It's more efficient to gzip base16 encoded data
than to gzip base64 data. /usr/dict/words
is 900k of English text. If I base64 encode it and then gzip it (as you might
do when sending the data via SOAP and a compressed transport), the
result is 385k. But if I base16 encode it and then gzip it
the result is smaller - 296k - even though base16 is less efficient..
Why? Base64 encoding breaks up the pattern so the compressor doesn't work as well. Base16 preserves byte boundaries. It's even more efficient to gzip, then base64 encode, then gzip. Summary: data 909k gzip(data) 248k gzip(base16(data)) 296k base16 is smaller gzip(base64(data)) 385k gzip(base16(gzip(data))) 280k gzip(base64(gzip(data))) 250k base64 is smaller |