Base64
Base64 is an algorithm that is designed for encoding arbitrary sequences of bytes. Each group of three bytes (24 bits) is encoded as four characters taken from a subset of ASCII specifically designed to pass through various gateways and processors intact. The characters are the capital letters A–Z, the lowercase letters a–z, the digits 0–9, the plus sign (+), the forward slash (/), and the equals sign (=). None of these are likely to cause any problem for XML processors.
The downside to Base64 is that the data is completely opaque. Just because something is an ASCII character in input doesn't mean it's likely to be the same one in output. (In fact, that's almost guaranteed not to happen because Base64 encoding splits the bits of each byte ...
Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.
Read now
Unlock full access