User Guide

ToBase64 721
ToBase64
Description
Calculates the Base64 representation of a string or binary object. The Base64 format uses
printable characters, allowing binary data to be sent in forms and e-mail, and stored in a database
or file.
The Base64 representation of a string or binary object.
Category
Conversion functions, Other functions, String functions
Function syntax
ToBase64(string or binary_object[, encoding])
See also
• cffile for information about loading and reading binary data
• cfwddx for information about serializing and deserializing binary data
• IsBinary and ToBinary for checking for binary data and converting a Base64 object to binary
format
History
ColdFusion MX: Added the encoding attribute.
Parameters
Usage
Base64 provides 6-bit encoding of data. The encoding process represents 24-bit groups of input
bits as output strings of 4 encoded ASCII characters. Binary objects and, in some cases, 8-bit
characters, cannot be transported over many internet protocols, such as HTTP and SMTP. Using
Base64 safely converts the data into a format that is safe over any internet protocol.
Parameter Description
string or binary_object A string, the name of a string, or a binary object.
encoding For a string, defines how characters are represented in a byte array. The
following list includes commonly used values:
• utf-8
• iso-8859-1
• windows-1252
• us-ascii
• shift_jis
• iso-2022-jp
• euc-jp
• euc-kr
• big5
• euc-cn
• utf-16
For more information on character encoding, see:
www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html.
Default: the encoding of the page on which the function is called. See
cfcontent on page 87.
For a binary object, this parameter is ignored.