Base64 encoding, specified in RFC 2045 - MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions) uses a 64-character subset (A-Za-z0-9+/) to represent binary data and = for padding. Base64 processes data as 24-bit groups, mapping this data to four encoded characters. It is sometimes referred to as 3-to-4 encoding. Each 6 bits of the 24-bit group is used as an index into a mapping table (the base64 alphabet) to obtain a character for the encoded data. According to the MIME specification the encoded data has line lengths limited to 76 characters, but this line length restriction does not apply when transmitting binary data as part of XML document. XML & Binary Data
A representation of characters in digital format using a 65 character subset of U.S. ASCII.
An encoding algorithm that converts all characters in a data stream to printable ASCII characters.
BASE64 is one of five Content-Transfer-Encoding methods used to encode a MIME message which translates raw binary data into ASCII text so it can be sent in a mail message. Of the five encoding methods only two are true encoding methods (BASE64 and quoted-printable). The remainder (7-bit, 8-bit, and binary) aren't really encoding methods; they simply tell the receiver what kind of data the message contains.
The base 64 encoding system encodes 3 bytes in 4 for each byte which contains 6 significant bits.This program allows the conversion to find out the original file.
Base64 is a command line utility which encodes and decodes files in this format. It can be used within a pipeline as an encoding or decoding filter, and is most commonly used in this manner as part of an automated mail processing system.
Base64 is a method of encoding binary data sent as an attachment through email. Base64 encoding divides three bytes of data into four bytes of ASCII text, making the resulting file size approximately 33% larger.
Content Transfer Encoding/Decoding
Base64 or quadrosexagesimal is a positional notation using a base of 64. It is the largest power-of-two base that can be represented using only printable ASCII characters. This has led to its use as a transfer encoding for e-mail among other things.