Network, Networking Technology, Data Communication Terms, Glossary and Dictionary

UUencode: UNIX-to-UNIX encoding

UNIX-to-UNIX encoding (Uuencode) is a method of converting binary files to ASCII so they can be sent over the Internet over the UUCP mail system. Since UUCP converted characters between various computer's character sets, uuencode was used to convert the data to fairly common characters that were unlikely to be "translated" and thereby destroy the file. The program uudecode reverses the effect of uuencode, recreating the original binary file exactly. uuencode/decode became popular for sending binary files by e-mail and posting to usenet newsgroups etc. It has now been largely replaced by MIME.

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UUencode: UNIX-to-UNIX encoding