Base64 Encoding Image

Question

I am building an open search add-on for Firefox/IE and the image needs to be Base64 Encoded so how can I base 64 encode the favicon I have?

I am only familiar with PHP

Answer 1

Google led me to this solution (base64_encode). Hope this helps!

Answer 2

@OysterD - yes I know how to encode it but how to get just the image data in there for it to be encoded.

Answer 3

As far as I remember there is an xml element for the image data. You can use this website to encode a file (use the upload field). Then just copy and paste the data to the XML element.

You could also use PHP to do this like so:

<?php
    // Use appropriate function for your filetype
    // - file_get_contents + imagecreatefromstring if needed
    $im = imagecreatefromgif('filename.gif');

    $imdata = base64_encode($im);
    echo($imdata);

    imagedestroy($im);
?>

Use Mozilla's guide for help on creating OpenSearch plugins. For example, the icon element is used like this:

<Image width="16" height="16">data:image/x-icon;base64,imageData</Image>

Where imageData is your base64 data.

Answer 4

My synopsis of rfc2397 is:

Once you've got your base64 encoded image data put it inside the <Image></Image> tags prefixed with "data:{mimetype};base64," this is similar to the prefixing done in the parenthesis of url() definition in CSS or in the quoted value of the src attribute of the img tag in [X]HTML. You can test the data url in firefox by putting the data:image/... line into the URL field and pressing enter, it should show your image.

For actually encoding I think we need to go over all your options, not just PHP, because there's so many ways to base64 encode something.

1. Use the base64 command line tool. It's part of the GNU coreutils (v6+) and pretty much default in any Cygwin, Linux, GnuWin32 install, but not the BSDs I tried. Issue: $ base64 imagefile.ico > imagefile.base64.txt
2. Use a tool that features the option to convert to base64, like Notepad++ which has the feature under plugins->MIME tools->base64 Encode
3. Email yourself the file and view the raw email contents, copy and paste.
4. Use a web form.

A note on mime-types: I would prefer you use one of image/png image/jpeg or image/gif as I can't find the popular image/x-icon. Should that be image/vnd.microsoft.icon? Also the other formats are much shorter.

compare 265 bytes vs 1150 bytes:

data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAMAAAAoLQ9TAAAAVFBMVEWcZjTcViTMuqT8/vzcYjTkhhTkljT87tz03sRkZmS8mnT03tT89vTsvoTk1sz86uTkekzkjmzkwpT01rTsmnzsplTUwqz89uy0jmzsrmTknkT0zqT3X4fRAAAAbklEQVR4XnXOVw6FIBBAUafQsZfX9r/PB8JoTPT+QE4o01AtMoS8HkALcH8BGmGIAvaXLw0wCqxKz0Q9w1LBfFSiJBzljVerlbYhlBO4dZHM/F3llybncbIC6N+70Q7OlUm7DdO+gKs9gyRwdgd/LOcGXHzLN5gAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

data:image/x-icon;base64,AAABAAEAEBAAAAEAIABoBAAAFgAAACgAAAAQAAAAIAAAAAEAIAAAAAAAAAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/////ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv///////////2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb///////////9mZmb/ZmZm//////////////////////////////////////////////////////9mZmb/ZmZm////////////ZmZm/2ZmZv//////ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv//////ZmZm/2ZmZv///////////2ZmZv9mZmb//////2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb/ZmZm/2ZmZv9mZmb//////2ZmZv9mZmb///////////9mZmb/ZmZm////////////////////////////8fX4/8nW5P+twtb/oLjP//////9mZmb/ZmZm////////////////////////////oLjP/3eZu/9pj7T/M2aZ/zNmmf8zZpn/M2aZ/zNmmf///////////////////////////////////////////zNmmf8zZpn/M2aZ/zNmmf8zZpn/d5m7/6C4z/+WwuH/wN/3//////////////////////////////////////+guM//rcLW/8nW5P/x9fj//////9/v+/+w1/X/QZ7m/1Cm6P//////////////////////////////////////////////////////7/f9/4C+7v8xluT/EYbg/zGW5P/A3/f/0933/9Pd9//////////////////////////////////f7/v/YK7q/xGG4P8RhuD/MZbk/7DX9f//////4uj6/zJh2/8yYdv/8PT8////////////////////////////UKbo/xGG4P8xluT/sNf1////////////4uj6/zJh2/8jVtj/e5ro/////////////////////////////////8Df9/+gz/P/////////////////8PT8/0944P8jVtj/bI7l/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////2yO5f8jVtj/T3jg//D0/P///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////3ua6P8jVtj/MmHb/+Lo+v////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////D0/P8yYdv/I1bY/9Pd9///////////////////////AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==