ietf-822
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Re: Content types and encodings

1991-08-29 07:07:37


Encoding      7-bit World     8-bit World     8->7 translation
 8BIT         impossible      OK              QUOTED-PRINTABLE or BASE64
 7BIT         OK              OK              none needed
 BINARY       impossible      OK              BASE64
 BASE64       OK              OK              none needed
 QUOTED-P...  OK              OK              none needed


It is a big difference between 8BIT and BINARY. You can theoretical
send BINARY files in the 8-bit world but only theoretical a lot
of transportation protocols assumes a limited line length. 

This is also the reason to have both 8BIT and BINARY. So we have
to use BASE64 or some other translation scheme to send binary
in messages.

Sven-Ove Westberg, CAD, University of Lulea, S-951 87 Lulea, Sweden.

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