Base64 XML-Safe
Base64 XML-Safe is a Base64 variant adapted for XML documents, ensuring the output contains no XML-special characters or is wrapped in a CDATA section.
Purpose
It lets binary data be embedded safely in XML element content without colliding with XML syntax characters (<, >, &).
Mechanism
Standard Base64 output never contains <, >, or &, but it does contain +, /, and =; inside XML the payload is usually embedded directly or wrapped in a CDATA section, or the Base64URL alphabet is used instead.
Use cases
- Binary embedding in XML configuration
- SOAP attachment encoding
- SAML assertion attributes