Have you ever come across something strange like ‘data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4=’ and wondered what it was? When you see something like this, it might seem like a bug, a code, or even a suspicious thing. But that is not as bad as it sounds.
This article will let you know what this strange-looking piece of writing is, how it functions, where it is applied, and why it is helpful.
Know More About The data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pgh0bww+pgjvzhk+pc9ib2r5pjwvahrtbd4=
The data URL of such a kind is such a combination of characters: data:text/html; charset=utf-8; base64.
Data URL is a URL that allows one to insert small files directly into an application or a web page without having to link to an external file. You do not refer to a file that is located on a server, but you put the contents of the file in the URL.
Just imagine it as follows: when you want to send a file, you can paste it into the text.
Decoding The URL data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pgh0bww+pgjvzhk+pc9ib2r5pjwvahrtbd4=
data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pgh0bww+pgjvzhk+pc9ib2r5pjwvahrtbd4=
- Data: It tells the browser that it should not think that it is the usual URL, but that it is the Data URL.
- Text/html: This is what defines the type of data, and in this case, it is HTML (Hypertext Markup Language).
- Charset=utf-8: It informs the web browser that it is supposed to show which character set coding. UTF-8 is the most common text-coding practice on the internet.
- Base64: This is used to mean that the data is converted to base64, which is a way of encoding binary data to be readable characters.
- pgh0bww+pgjvzhk+pc9ib2r5pjwvahrtbd4= : Now it is the actual content, but it is base64 encoded.
Decoding The Base64 Part
The encoded data of the base 64 is: pGh0bWw/PGJvZHk/PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4=
The IT industry has become a very competitive one. It is a very basic HTML file that has nothing in the body. It is the framework of a web page, and there is no information.
The data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= is a keyword which is used to indicate a very small page of HTML where no content is coded into the URL using base64 encoding.
What Are The Areas Of The Application Of URL data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64?
You might be thinking, what is the use of the URL data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4=,
It can be applied in the majority of cases:
- Web Programming: Web code is often written by programmers who want to test new snippets of code without uploading files to a Web server; data URLs to this end are common.
- Bookmarklets: Bookmarks (again, through Data URLs) can also run little scripts, or print (data).
- Offline Pages: With the use of a data URL, a page can be linked to another page; this can be helpful when there is no Internet connection.
- Embeds or Email Signatures: The email program or client in other programs uses an embedded data URL as HTML or an image.
Is data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= Safe To Access?
You have no problem using data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= when you have some idea of its source. But as with all things on the internet, it can be misused.
When you are given a data URL, which you do not understand, do not just go on to click or open the same blindly. Base64 may also be used to encode malicious scripts and insert them into data URLs so they can carry out phishing attacks or other malicious operations.
The thing is that the data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= name is not harmful in any way, and it just opens a blank HTML.
How To View The HTML Content?
- Open a browser.
- Copy the URL data: text/html; charset=utf-8; base64, pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4 = and paste it in the address bar.
- Type Enter.
A blank page appears. But on the other side of that blank page is a full (but not filled in) document in HTML.
What Is Base64, And What Can It Be Applied To?
Base64 is a coding system that is used to encode binary data (e.g., files, graphics, or even entire HTML pages) as only text (which is comprehensible).
This can be particularly useful when one wishes to include the content in an HTML, CSS, or JavaScript file and does not want to load the file over the server.
Tip: How data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= Use It?
In simple terms, base64 encoding is a complete written HTML file in an encrypted format that will be revealed in unloaded page format in the following format, data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4=.
I am a web developer who uses data URLs very often to quickly preview how something will appear without going through the process of creating an entire directory of files. On other occasions, I simply create a new tab and copy and paste a data:text/html tag to get the way it would be displayed.
It is very helpful when one attempts to learn or illustrate simple cases.
Final Thoughts
data:text/html; charset=utf-8;base64,pGh0bWw+PGJvZHk+PC9ib2R5PjwvaHRtbD4= is an HTML URL of a simple HTML. It is an excellent example of the way developers can use HTML in a small embedded design. It is applied in testing, email embedding, bookmarklets, and offline applications. Some unknown data URLs can be harmful, but this one is not.
It can seem complicated at first, but now you know how to read it, to break it down, and even to use it yourself.
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