Storing base64 data in XML?

Question

How I can store base64 strings in XML?

Do you use CDATA to store base64 strings in XML? Would it help as it allows use of < > within the strings?

Is base64 configurable where you tell it not to use certain chars if they conflict with XML?

Answer 1

Base64 only uses alphanumeric characters and '+' (plus), '/' (slash) and '=' (equals). No need to encode anything for XML.

Answer 2

There are no characters whatsoever in the Base64 charset that will conflict with XML strings.

Answer 3

You can just store it as a text or attribute value; no escaping or CDATA sections needed. The standard base 64 characters + and / (other than a-z, A-Z and 0-9) do not interfere with XML parsing at all.