BinHex is a utility for converting (encoding) Macintosh files into files that will travel well on networks either as files or e-mail attachments. Like Uuencode , BinHex encodes a file from its 8-bit binary or bit-stream representation into a 7-bit ASCII set of text characters. The recipient must decode it at the other end. Older e-mail utilities sometimes can't handle binary transmissions so text encoding ensures that a tranmission will get to an older system. BinHex specifically handles both resource and data forks in Macintosh files (which Uuencode doesn't). BinHex files have a suffix of ".hqx". (Earlier versions have the suffix ".hex".)

Next Steps

Netscape and possibly other Web browsers as well as some popular e-mail applications (including Eudora) include BinHex encoding and decoding capability. Otherwise, you can download a BinHex utility for use in either the Macintosh, Windows, or other systems. (In Eudora, when writing a note you want to be transmitted in BinHex, look for the little box set to a default of "MIME" and change it to "BinHex.")

This was last updated in September 2005
Contributor(s): Bernard Pietch
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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