binhex

1 definition found

binhex - Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (26 May 2007) :

  BinHex
  
     <file format> A Macintosh format for representing a binary file
      using only printable characters.  The file is
     converted to lines of letters, numbers and punctuation.
     Because BinHex files are simply text they can be sent through
     most electronic mail systems and stored on most computers.
     However the conversion to text makes the file larger, so it
     takes longer to transmit a file in BinHex format than if the
     file was represented some other way.
  
     Filename extension: .hqx.
  
     See also BinHex 4.0, uuencode.
  
     [Encoding algorithm?]
  
     (1994-11-30)