Today we’re going to talk about two popular data encoding techniques that you might have heard of before base 64 and base 32. These methods are commonly used for transmitting binary data over text-based channels like email or chat messages. But what exactly do they mean? And why should you care? Let’s dive in!

Base 64:
First, base 64 encoding. This technique converts a series of bytes (which are just numbers) into printable ASCII characters that can be easily transmitted over text-based channels. The reason for this is simple binary data cannot be directly sent via email or chat messages because it contains special characters and symbols that might cause issues with the transmission process.

So, how does base 64 work? It’s actually pretty straightforward! Each group of three bytes (which are usually represented as hexadecimal numbers) is converted into four printable ASCII characters using a lookup table. The resulting string contains only letters, digits, and special symbols like “+” and “/”.

Here’s an example: let’s say we have the following binary data: 10100101 01100010 01100001. We can convert this into base 64 using a lookup table like so:

| Binary Data (3 bytes) | Lookup Table | Base 64 Output (4 chars) |
|————————|———————————-|—————————|
| 01010010 | A = 0x30, R = 0x52 | Qp |
| 01100010 | C = 0x43, r = 0x6F | Lr |
| 01100001 | I = 0x49, e = 0x65 | Gie |

So the resulting base 64 string would be “QpLrGie”. Pretty cool, right? But what’s the catch? Well, there are a few things to consider when using base 64 encoding. First, it adds about 30% overhead to your data because each group of three bytes is converted into four printable ASCII characters. Secondly, some special symbols like “+” and “/” might cause issues with certain email clients or chat programs.

Base 32:
Now base 32 encoding a similar technique that uses a different lookup table to convert binary data into printable ASCII characters. The main difference between base 64 and base 32 is the number of output characters per input byte group (which is three in both cases). In base 32, each group of four bytes is converted into five printable ASCII characters using a lookup table that contains only letters and digits.

Here’s an example: let’s say we have the following binary data: 10100101 01100010 01100001. We can convert this into base 32 using a lookup table like so:

| Binary Data (4 bytes) | Lookup Table | Base 32 Output (5 chars) |
|————————|———————————-|—————————|
| 01010010 | A = 0x30, R = 0x52 | qp |
| 01100010 | C = 0x43, r = 0x6F | lr |
| 01100001 | I = 0x49, e = 0x65 | gie |

So the resulting base 32 string would be “qpldrgie”. Pretty cool, right? But what’s the catch? Well, there are a few things to consider when using base 32 encoding. First, it adds about 16% overhead to your data because each group of four bytes is converted into five printable ASCII characters. Secondly, some email clients or chat programs might not support this format (although most modern ones do).

Both techniques are useful in their own ways, but they come with certain trade-offs. Base 64 is more widely supported, but adds more overhead to your data. Base 32 is less common, but adds less overhead and might be a better choice if you’re dealing with specific email clients or chat programs that don’t support base 64.