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eleven80 · 06-03-2006, 12:38

Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I'll give it a shot...

I came across a newsletter sent out by a certain travel company recently, which contained base64-encoded images. (I think spammers use this method to get images through to your inbox, too).

I also send out a newsletter to a large number of customers monthly, and would like to use the same method to add images (remotely hosted) to the emails.

Encoding the image URL with base64 is no problem, but I can't get my head around content IDs and what not... anyone know of a good 'how-to' on base64 encoding/decoding for MIME?

Thanks in advance.

tobor · 06-03-2006, 13:52

You just have to sepcify in the Content-Transfer-Encoding (This is in the raw code for the email)
Content-Type: image/png
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

eleven80 · 07-03-2006, 04:28

I have about 10 images I need to use this method for... that means I need to use content IDs right? Can they be anything random?

nevali · 07-03-2006, 05:40

The content ID has nothing to do with the encoding

Base64 encoding is just a system which allows binary files such as images to be sent as plain text so that mail servers and clients don't choke on it.

Content IDs are used to allow you to reference attachments from within other parts of a multi-part e-mail. The content IDs themselves just have to be unique throughout the e-mail. They can be ‘image1’, ‘image2’, ‘image3’ if you really want, though that would probably get confusing. Stick to alphanumeric characters, full stops and undercores, and if I remember rightly they're usually suffixed by whatever ‘Message-ID’ you've chosen, but that's just a convention.

06-03-2006, 12:38	#1 (permalink)
eleven80 i am to misbehave Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 9	base64 content transfer encoding Not sure if this is the right place to post, but I'll give it a shot... I came across a newsletter sent out by a certain travel company recently, which contained base64-encoded images. (I think spammers use this method to get images through to your inbox, too). I also send out a newsletter to a large number of customers monthly, and would like to use the same method to add images (remotely hosted) to the emails. Encoding the image URL with base64 is no problem, but I can't get my head around content IDs and what not... anyone know of a good 'how-to' on base64 encoding/decoding for MIME? Thanks in advance.

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06-03-2006, 13:52	#2 (permalink)
tobor Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Toronto, Canada Posts: 162	You just have to sepcify in the Content-Transfer-Encoding (This is in the raw code for the email) Content-Type: image/png Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64

07-03-2006, 04:28	#3 (permalink)
eleven80 i am to misbehave Join Date: Nov 2005 Location: London, UK Posts: 9	I have about 10 images I need to use this method for... that means I need to use content IDs right? Can they be anything random?

07-03-2006, 05:40	#4 (permalink)
nevali Macguyver Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 10	The content ID has nothing to do with the encoding Base64 encoding is just a system which allows binary files such as images to be sent as plain text so that mail servers and clients don't choke on it. Content IDs are used to allow you to reference attachments from within other parts of a multi-part e-mail. The content IDs themselves just have to be unique throughout the e-mail. They can be ‘image1’, ‘image2’, ‘image3’ if you really want, though that would probably get confusing. Stick to alphanumeric characters, full stops and undercores, and if I remember rightly they're usually suffixed by whatever ‘Message-ID’ you've chosen, but that's just a convention.

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