All about Strange Encoding

This page was updated by Tokyo Time

	What's this page for? What does this page have?
1.	I am tired of replying so many people who suffered from this problem on Internet So, I decided to make this page to help them.
2.	This page will teach you how to decode some emails which look like some alien words.
3.	Since I am more familiar with Windows(3.x, 95), DOS, and Unix, the materials covered here will concentrate on these OS more. For OS/2 or Mac users, please give me any comments so that I can add those HOW-TO here, and make this page more helpful.
4.	I am not a computer expert. So, if you feel this page is too easy for you, please be patient, and please teach me about what I don't know, or correct any wrong information covered in this page. I will include your advice and name into this page to help more people.
5.	All the softwares and links covered in this page may be upgraded often. if you find any links has expired or not available anymore, please notify me.

How :	How to view alien words ?

Step 1: Determine the data format :

What does it look like ?
UUencoding	base64 encoding	QP encoding
begin 644 kk M2&DL($UR+B!#:&5N+`H... M;FEG:'0N($YO=R!)('=... M960*V\@=&AA="!Y;W4... M96QF+@HH,BE4:&5R92!.. M=F5R=&EN9PH@("!0;&5.. M(&EF('1H97)E('=I;&P.. M=70@8V]N=F5R=&EN9R`.. .... end	MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64 Status: R SGkgISBJTElOp0GmbqF... c6zdbmV3c67JLMFgt3y... 57vypl6oxj+mcKbzuNG...	=ADY=B1z=AA=BE=B9D =A5i=B0=D1=A6=D2, D=A5=CE =B6m=A7=F8=AD=D1= BC=D6=B3=A1=B8=EA =AF=B8
Oh !! I got other allein words !! Help !!

Step 2: Determine your OS :

Oh !! I have followed the above steps, but it still does not work !! Help !!
	What Os are you using now ?
	Windoes(3.x, 95, NT)	Unix	Macintosh
U U e n c o d e	WinZip6.2 Get 32bit one Get 16bit one UUDeview Get 16bit one Xferpro111 Get 16bit one Wincode Get 2.7.3a one WinPack32 Get_Deluxe1.10b1 For more details, click here	For a file named xxx To uuencode xxx into a new file named zzz uuencode xxx yyy >& zzz Then, xxx is *uuencoded* to be zzz For an *uuencoded* file named zzz To uudecode zzz into a new file . uudecode zzz Then, yyy is *uudecoded* from zzz For more details, click here.
b a s e 6 4 e n c o d e		For a file named xxx To base64-encode xxx into a new file named zzz mmencode -b xxx >& zzz Then, xxx is *base64-encoded* to be zzz For a *base64-encoded* file named zzz To base64-decode zzz into a new file **mmdecode -u -b zzz >& ttt Then, ttt is base64-decoded from zzz** For more details, click here.
Q P e n c o d e	Get cnvt_qp.zip For more details, click here.	For a file named xxx To QP-encode xxx into a new file named zzz mmencode -q xxx >& zzz Then, xxx is *QP-encoded* to be zzz For a *QP-encoded* file named zzz To QP-decode zzz into a new file **mmdecode -u -b zzz >& ttt Then, ttt is base64-decoded from zzz** For more details, click here.

If you are lucky enough, now, you should have solved this problem, and been able to translate those allein words into your language !!

Details :	So, you still can't solve it? Read the following details.

How can I send some binary files or chinese emails successfully?
If you want to send something which contains some binary files(e.g. .exe .zip .gif .doc.) or some 8-bit text file(e.g. BIG5 chinese)
For the attached files:
if you use Netscape, Eudora, or Pegasus to attach such files, the attached files will be automatically base64-encoded. (only the attached part)
you do not need to use any encoding method when you send the attached files. If you did, it will make the decoding more troublesome. (then, receiver may need to decode more than once.)
the receiver can always decode such 'attached' files successfully.
For the main content:
if you write some 8-bit characters (e.g. BIG5), the content will only appear correctly if the 8th bit is not truncated during the process of traversing that email. This may happen when both sender/receiver are in Taiwan, since most internet nodes in Taiwan can deal with 8bit data traversing.
the 8th bit may be truncated somewhere during the process, if you and receiver are far from each other (e.g. Taiwan <=> USA).
you should first send a test email with the chinese main content to the receiver, and ask if he/she can get the main content correctly.
if the 8th bit is truncated, the receiver will see some alien words other than above formats(uuencode, base64 encode, qp encode)
in such case, it is almost unrecoverable, details will be stated here
3 solutions to send the main content correctly when the 8th bit will be truncated:
use Netscape, Eudora, or Pegasus Mail, choose the "Quoted Printalbe" or "MIME encoding" in their preference or options configuration.
send the main content and the attached file separately.
i.e. save the main content as a file first, then, use 'attach' again to attach the main content.
if you are using unix, save the main content as a file, and encode it via any of the encoding method.(uuencode & QP encode are recommended, since the main content should be a text file only.) and send that file to the receiver.

if the 8th bit won't be truncated, it will be sent successfully, so, you do not need to do anything for the main content.

For a unix sender, he may not have an email software which he can "attach" files, then he should:
encode those files he wanted to send. For the main content, if the 8th bit will be truncated, he must save it as a file, too, and encode it as other files.
uuencode is recommended for encoding a binary file in unix. Because it will always contain the file name, and the receiver will know what that file is by view the line 'begin xxx kkk.jjj" in the header information after he receives it.
To uuencode a file xxx in unix, uuencode xxx yyy >& zzz. It is very important to name yyy correctly. Because the receiver will use yyy to specify the format of xxx.
e.g. if xxx is a zip file, then, you should name yyy as yyy.zip (yyy can be xxx, or anything else, it's ok). Therefore, when the receiver gets the email, he can identify the uuencoded file is a zip file, and thus he can decode it first, and unzip it.
mmencode in unix will not contain any header information about the encoding method(base 64), and file name. As a result, the reciever won't be able to know what kind of file he has received, will have difficulty to recover it.
e.g. if you mmencode a zip file and send it, the receiver does not konw it is a zip file since there is no header information. Therefore, even though the receiver has successfully decoded the file, he could not use it, because without the correct file format, it may be a .gif , .doc or .au file.
then, mail xxx@yyy.zzz <& kk.uue to send the encoded file kk.uue to xxx@yyy.zzz, and continue this step till all the encoded files have been sent.

How can I decode some alien emails successfully?

Make sure the alien email is decodable first
Check if the format of the alien email coressponds to one of the 3 formats listed above (uuencode, base64 encode, QP encode).
if yes, this is decodable.
if it does not look like any of the 3 formats above, there may 4 possibilities:
it is base64 encoded, but there is no header information about what the encoding method, and the original file name is.
In such case, you can solve this here
it was encoded by other encoding method, such as Binhex, or XXencode. As long as it contains header information about the encoding method, you should be able to decode it by Xferp111.
it may be written in other language encode.
e.g. if the sender wrote the mail in JIS, EUC, or GB encoding, surely you can not view it correctly in BIG5 encoding.
So, ask the sender if he really use Big5 or not.
the 8th bit was truncated somewhere, then, it is almost irrecoverable. If you insist to recover it, you need some special program [unix only] by Dr.Huang to recover it, which is too difficult for usual cases.
Therefore, Usually, you must ask the sender to resend that email..

Start decoding

Windows User
If your email software can't decode email on the fly, you have to save that mail as a file first. Then :

UUdecode
- WinZip6.2:must change the file name extention to be .uue
- UUDeview: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
- Xferp1.1.1: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
- Wincpack: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
- Wincode: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.

BASE64-decode

WinZip6.2:must change the file name extention to be .b64
UUDeview: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
Xferp1.1.1: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
Wincpack: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.
Wincode: it will automatically identify the decoded filename.

If it is b64 encoded without header information:

ask the sender about the original file name first. So that you will know what format that file is. For example, if it is a .jpg file, you can rename it to be xxx.jpg after you decoded the file via the following methods.

3 ways to decode this file
1. Use Xferp111, Wincode.
  Add header information as following:
  
  MIME-Version: 1.0
  
  Content-Type: ;charset="us-ascii";name="xxx.yyy"
  Content-Transfer-Encoding:base64
  Status: R
  
  After adding such information before the main content, xferp111 and Wincode should be able to decode it.
  For more details, refer to here

Why decoding a file without header information is so troublesome?

Without header information, you have to know
1. What kind of encoding method that file was encoded
2. What format does that file is
because
1. if the file is uuencoded, of course you can't decode it successfully with other decoding method, right?
2. if the file is a .jpg format, of course you can't take it as a text file or zip file, right?
that's why it is very important to make the sender encoded file correctly, and should let the receiver know what encoding method and what file format he is sending.

QP-decode
QP-encoded file is usually easily detectable, because it often contains many "=", such as "=A8=C7=B3". Therefore, you do not need any header informatiln or file extention to help identify it.
Mr.Lin at III wrote a small program-- cnvt_qp.zip You can unzip it, and find some introduction and how-to use it in DOS.
Basically, it will ask you to input the filename you plan to decode, then, ask for the new decoded filename; then, it will QP-decode that file, and save it to the filename you specified.
To realize how this program works, please unzip it, and read the enclosed document. Mr.Lin has written down how the algorithm is.

Unix User: Usually, your email software can't decode email on the fly, you have to save that mail as a file first. Assume the filename is xxx Then :
- For an uuencoded file named zzz
  To uudecode zzz into a new file .
  uudecode zzz
  Then, yyy is uudecoded from zzz
  For more details, click
  here.
  
  for the main content(not the attached part), if the sender uses some 8-bit encoding characters(like BIG5), the This is always solvable by base64 decoding.
  the sender does (the new decode file name can be found in the 1st line after "begin ###", where ### is just a useless number). For the previous example, ###=644, and
  For previous example, the new file named yyy will appear after we uudecode zzz (unlike uuencode, here we must assign a new file name to be decoded). To encode a file, New->Assign a new name(kk.txt)->Choose the file you want to uuencode ->Action->UUencode->become kk.uue->done Hi, It depends on what �ýX you are going to decode. try to down load xferp110.zip It can decode uu/MIME...(sorry I forgot) if you want to decode print-quoted file, then, get cnvt_qp.zip If you don't know wherethey are on the web. use archie. If you dont' know how to use archie, go to http://archie.edu.tw/ , then, you will know. if you are using Unix, try: mmencode -q xxx (quote-printable en�X ��H�H��uudecode��wincode��decode�N��٭� 2.�p�G�O��eudora �A��g�H��n�� h��Υ��attachment�N�ɧt�J�Y�i�H�� Hi, this is Quoted-Printable encoding. Make sure you did not 'select' it in your mail software configuration. To solve it, you can get a file named "cnvt_qp.zip", unzip it, and you can decode it in dos. where to find it? ftp.tku.edu.tw /pc/winsock/Email FILE -rw-r--r-- 15947 Apr 15 1995 cnvt_qp.zip server1.nccu.edu.tw /PC/DOS/chinese FILE -rw-r--r-- 15947 Jun 17 09:25 cnvt_qp.zip /PC/Windows/winsock/Email FILE -r--r--r-- 15947 Apr 14 1995 cnvt_qp.zip server1.nccu.edu.tw /PC/DOS/chinese FILE -rw-r--r-- 15947 Jun 17 09:25 cnvt_qp.zip /PC/Windows/winsock/Email FILE -r--r--r-- 15947 Apr 14 1995 cnvt_qp.zip ---- �ڤw�g�^�o�ذ��D�ܦh��F ! �U��ͭY�٬O��D�p��ѨM '��' �� ýX��D, �кɺ� mail �� (ilin@gol.com) or here in this bbs. �ڥi�q��A�ѽX, �i��A�p��ѨM�o��D in details. I just don't want to keep seeing so many people asking the same problems so often. nctuccca.edu.tw /PC/simtelnet/win3/util FILE -r--r--r-- 133888 Apr 11 00:00 xferp100.zip /Windows/Simtel.net/util FILE -r--r--r-- 133888 Apr 11 00:00 xferp100.zip /Windows/Simtel/encode FILE -r--r--r-- 134406 Aug 20 1995 xferp110.zip /Windows/Winsock/mail FILE -r--r--r-- 420 Jun 10 00:00 xferp110.txt.gz FILE -r--r--r-- 134406 Jun 10 00:00 xferp110.zip /mirror/Cica/win3/util FILE -r--r--r-- 143751 Jun 25 00:00 xferp111.zip /mirror/Simtel/win3/encode FILE -r--r--r-- 134406 Aug 20 1995 xferp110.zip �Y�L�O�� MIME �s�X��, ��깳 Eudora, Pegasus, �� Netscape Mail ��o�� Mail �n�鳣�|��A��. ��M Winspan ��H��, �ۤv�� Wincode ��o�� encode/decode �n��]�i�Ѷ}. Hi, Yes, in unix. you can use 'mmencode' it depends on what kind of MIME encoding. If it's QP-encoded, (somethign like =A4W=A1=D0=A1=D0 you can use 'mmencode -u -q xxx > yyy' then, it will decode the file xxx into a new files named yyy If it's base64 encoded,( something like PGh0bWw+CjxIRUFEPjxiYXNlIHRhcmdldD0ibmV3 you can use 'mmencode -u -b xxx > yyy' or 'mmencode -u -b -p xxx > yyy' to uuencode xxx uuencode xxx yyy >& zzz then original file xxx will be uuencoded to file zzz to uudecode zzz uudecode zzz then there will be a file yyy uudecoded out If you really want to decode the base64 undeer unix, there are 2 ways 1.mmencode -u -b xxx > yyy before you decode xxx, remember to remove all the header information So, this way is troublesome. 2.uudeview. please link to http://www.uni-frankfurt.de/~fp/uudeview/welcom.html that authour has made a unix version. I haven't tried it yet, but it seems that it should be very good.(I have tried its window's version.), please try it, and tell me the result.:> �z�o�O Eudora �a? �ոդU��]�w�ݬ�: Options | General Preference | Language: 1. Characters Set: latin1 2. Usenet Text & Email Text: 7bit / 8bit 3. MIME header: both uncheck : �бЦU��L : ��ڥ��馬�oE-MAIL��S��D, : �o��@��ͦѬO��ýX, : �ڪ��]�w�ҨS��D��! : PS.�ӥL��V�ǰe�o�M�M��. Hi, �z�Ҵ��Ѫ��T��, ��z�ѨM�o�Ӱ��D. �o��ܦh�إi��. �z��ӻ��ԲӨ�, �Ҧp: �z�Τ�� email software? �L�Τ�� email software? �ҿת��ýX�쩳��ˤl? �O��ܦ��ýX? �٬O�u��峡��ܦ��ýX? please tell me more,then, I will try to solve it for you. UUDeviewA great decode/encoder Aladdin Software ftp://ifcss.org/pub/software/mac/c-sys ftp://ifcss.org/pub/software/fonts/big5/mac 250-Traditional_Chinese.hqx is for use with MacBlue Telnet. 250-Create your own with /software/fonts/utils/HZCov.sit.hqx 250- 250-NTU fonts are converted by MacBlue with 250-utility provided by NewKid -- /software/mac/print/TTFontConveter -- 250-from ../ms-win/ntu_font* 250- 250-Mirrored from imaux.mgt.ncu.edu.tw:/pub/contrib/mac_ntu_ttf 250- 250-please read ../ms-win/ntu_font.doc A minimalist MIME-reading program, munpack, is available from this URL: ftp://ftp.andrew.cmu.edu/pub/mpack/ The munpack program reads MIME messages and writes the decoded parts out to files. Versions are available for Unix, MS-DOS, Macintosh, and Amiga platforms. MIME-FAQ MIME (Netscape page) Terminology Decode: MSDOS:Simtelnet DOS En/Decoder Win95:Simtelnet Win95 En/Decoder Win31:Simtelnet Win31 En/Decoder mixed:en/decoder �̦��ӪB�ͬO�� win 95 �� intelnet mail �ӵo e-mail... ��O�̦��ɫo��O�ýX....,��O�u��D�D�εo�H�H�M��H�H��... ��O��e�٬O�i�H�ݱo�ܲM��.---> �A�O��, �A��쪺�H �D�D�εo�H�H�M��H�H ��ýX ��O��e�L�ýX???? �p�G�O�o�˪��, ��O��誺��D, ��O�A��D, �s�L�N �l��->�ﶵ->�¤�r->�]�w->��D �]��e�\ 8bit . This is not your problem, so, tell him to change it. also, tell him to use netscape email if possible. IE Mail often has problem, very troublesome. Hi, I have never used IE Mail before, but I have heard many people complain it often, so, if possible, please change to other email software. I feel netscape's email is good. I have found many people have problems and the following ways may solve some of them, so, please try it: --- 1.if you receive �ýX email, try, �˵�->�y�t->�c�餤�� once, it seems that using IE mail, you have to �ݤ@�� @��, very troublesome. 2.if ��e��`, but ��D��ýX, try �l��->�ﶵ->�¤�r->�]�w->��D�e�\ 8bit --- I dont' know if this can solve your problem or not, but please try it, and please do tell me the result. If it works, I will know and can tell others; if it did not work, then, ask me(ilin@gol.com) again.

This page was updated by  Tokyo Time

What's this page for? What does this page have?

How :

How to view alien words ?

What does it look like ?

Oh !! I got other allein words !! Help !!

What Os are you using now ?

Oh !! I have followed the above steps, but it still does not work !! Help !!

Details :

So, you still can't solve it? Read the following details.

This page was updated by Tokyo Time