Binhex 4.0 Converter

1. Binhex 4.0 Converter

BINHEX(1) General Commands Manual BINHEX(1) NAME binhex - Hexifies a series of files SYNOPSIS binhex - options files DESCRIPTION binhex takes the files specified in files and hexifies them in BinHex 4.0 format on standard output subject to the options specified. '(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)' Microsoft Excel (That ain't no spreadsheet, bro) Microsoft Word (similar dreck) Notepad (slight exaggeration) What are we looking at? This is a compressed document, but in a format most folks (especially PC users) aren't familiar with.

Description

This article is from the Mac communications FAQ, by Bruce L Grubb BruceG6069@aol.com with numerous contributions by others.

These are all ASCII encoding (see [2.2]) formats.
(a) BinHex 4.0, by Yves Lempereur, is a binary to text translator
that can directly encode any Macintosh document (ie: it knows how to
convert information in both the resource and data forks). Since the
format is mainly used on already compressed files the RLE compression
method that can be part of the format is rarely used.
BinHex files can be easily recognized since they begin with the line:
(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)
and are followed by a line starting with a colon, ':'. The BinHex
encoding of the file follows, and is ended with another colon.
Binhex 4.0 files also can be identified externally by the suffix '.hqx'.
The best option to handle BinHex 4.0 is to use a utility
like StuffIt Expander and other StuffIt programs, and SunTar
to name only a few. StuffIt Expander has the advantage of also
being able to automatically expand StuffIt, Compact Pro, and
Applelink archives and being available on PCs.
The specifications to BinHex, should you be an interested programmer,
are available at the University of Michigan's Macintosh archive site
as mac/misc/documentation/binhex4.0specs.txt, or at InfoMac sites as
dev/info/binhex-40-specs.txt.
There is also a program/format called 'BinHex 5.0'; but it is NOT a
more advanced version of 'BinHex 4.0' but rather a separate _binary_
encoding format (see [2.2]). BinHex 5.0, written by Yves Lempereur,
in 1985 was the first MacBinary converter available. BinHex 5.0 (also
called MacBinary I) was replaced by the MacBinary II format which
added support for several then new MacOS features (see [2.4b]).
As new versions of BinHex were developed, they encoded only the
new format but continued to decode all previous formats:
BinHex 1.0 encodes .hex and decodes .hex
BinHex 2.0 encodes .hex & .hcx and decodes .hex & .hcx
BinHex 3.0 never existed
BinHex 4.0 encodes .hqx and decodes .hex, .hcx & .hqx
BinHex 5.0 encodes MacBinary I and decodes .hex, .hcx,
.hqx & MacBinary I
(b) 'uuencode' is a binary to text translator that serves the same
purpose as BinHex, except that it knows nothing about the Macintosh
resource/data fork structure. Uuencode was designed to allow UNIX
binary files to be easily transferred through text-only interfaces,
such as e-mail. Every uuencoded file contains a line similar to:
begin 644 usa-map.gif
followed by a series of lines of ASCII text characters (which are
normally 60 characters long and begin with the letter 'M').
The file ends with a line containing the word 'end'. There may be
other special keywords included. Externally uuencode files are
usially denoted with the suffix '.uu' or '.uue'.
Usually, one won't find Macintosh files in uuencode format; however,
most non-Macintosh specific binary data posted to Usenet is
uuencoded, so if you wish to use any of this data (such as the images
posted in alt.binaries.* and elsewhere), you will need to deal with
uuencode. The programs 'uuencode' and 'uudecode' exist on most UNIX
systems. If not, don't worry as there are many programs allow you to
convert to and from uuencode using your Macintosh (see [2.6]).
(c) Base64 is the encoding format used by Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extension (Mime) files. The reason mime uses Base64 rather than the
more popular uuencode format is that uuencode is not really a standard
but rather a collection of related but different formats. This rendered
uuencode impractical as a cross platform encoding format.
Mac files being sent via e-mail are usially binary encoded (usially
in AppleDouble) before being encoded in Base64.

Continue to:

• prev: 06 What is encoding? (File Formats and Conversion - Macintosh)
• next: 08 a) What are AppleSingle and AppleDouble? b) What is MacBinary? (File Formats and Conversion - Macintosh)

General Info

BinHex encoding converts an 8-bit file into a 7-bit format, similar to uuencoding. BinHex format preserves file attributes, as well as Macintosh resource forks, and includes CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error-checking. This encoding method works on any type of file, including formatted word processing and spreadsheet files, graphics files, and even executable files (i.e. programs or applications). The encoded file can also be passed from computer to computer in its encoded form. The encoding will remain intact and it will be equally meaningless on all the machines until it is unencoded. To be usable or readable it must be converted back to its original format and be run on a compatible computer.

Note: This is not to be confused with MacBinaryencoding, which is an 8-bit format.
(By the way, the MIME type Base64 is a 6-bit format! Isn't math fun?)

What it looks like

Note that all lines other than the header and the last line are exactly 64 characters long (not counting the newline characters). If you receive a file in email containing lines of varying lengths, then someone's mail system may have damaged the file and you'll probably need to have it resent.

The line '(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)' Windows 7 64-bit download. is an integral part of the file format; in fact, if it is missing or even altered in any way, the file may not get recognized as binhex by a decoder program (not a problem for StuffIt Expander, though). Note also that this does not mean you need a program called 'BinHex 4.0' to decode a BinHex file; there are several utilities which can do the trick, the most popular of which are listed on this very page (the page you are reading right now).

Here is some C source code to un-HQX in Unix, the readme from macutil, Pascal source code of DeHQX 2.0 by Peter Lewis (a great set of code and a good 'standard' to follow), and some notes from Yves himself.

BinHex versus MIME

Uh-oh, flamebait! Dare I even attempt to tackle this issue? Actually, there is more than one issue here: we've got email attachments, archive file formats, available source code, level of complexity, and varying implementations regardless of platform. Hmm, I'll leave this alone for now; eventually I'll fill this space up with comparison tables, URLs, and scary stuff like that! In the meantime, the fact is that BinHex is ubiquitous and won't be disappearing anytime soon, so whether it is 'preferred' or not is, for the most part, a moot point.

Also, Microsoft has chosen to use the BinHex format as a wrapper for Macintosh ActiveX controls. Apple has specified that Sherlock plug-in updates be posted on web sites in BinHex.

See also TidBITS: Macintosh Internet File Format Primer.

Macintosh Utilities

• StuffIt Expander 4.5 (free decompression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• DropStuff w/Expander Enhancer (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• StuffIt Lite 3.6 (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• StuffIt Deluxe 4.5 (commercial compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• MindExpander 1.0 (free decompression utility from MindVision)
• BinHex 4.0 (do NOT use 5.0 -- that is an 8-bit binary format)
• DeHQX 2.0.1 by Peter Lewis
• SITcomm 1.0.1 (telecom program [discontinued] from Aladdin Systems)
• ZipIt 1.3.8 (shareware compression utility from Tom Brown)
• Eudora (Internet email program from Qualcomm)

DOS/Windows Utilities

• Aladdin Expander for Windows by Aladdin Systems
• DropStuff for Windows (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• MindExpander 1.0 (free decompression utility from MindVision)
• Eudora (Internet email program from Qualcomm)
• PC BinHex 1.3 -- University of Minnesota 1992-1993
  Written by the Distributed Computing Services department and placed in the public domain.

  This Utility encodes binary files into a plain text format and decodes the resulting files into their original state. This program is compatible with the Macintosh version of BINHEX and with POPMail(tm) (the DOS counterpart to POPMail is Minuet ).
  For further information, see the following issues of theComputer & Information Services Newsletter:

March 1993 issue, article: E-mail Enclosures, Part 1
April 1993 issue, article: E-mail Attachments Part 2 - Using Pine
January 1994 issue, article: Sending Files Micros & Pine (#3 in series)

Unix Utilities

SunOS/Sparc2
(Info provided by John Gianni, http://www.cadence.com)

BINHEX(1) General Commands Manual BINHEX(1) NAME binhex - Hexifies a series of files SYNOPSIS binhex - options files DESCRIPTION binhex takes the files specified in files and hexifies them in BinHex 4.0 format on standard output subject to the options specified. '(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)' Microsoft Excel (That ain't no spreadsheet, bro) Microsoft Word (similar dreck) Notepad (slight exaggeration) What are we looking at? This is a compressed document, but in a format most folks (especially PC users) aren't familiar with.

Description

This article is from the Mac communications FAQ, by Bruce L Grubb BruceG6069@aol.com with numerous contributions by others.

These are all ASCII encoding (see [2.2]) formats.
(a) BinHex 4.0, by Yves Lempereur, is a binary to text translator
that can directly encode any Macintosh document (ie: it knows how to
convert information in both the resource and data forks). Since the
format is mainly used on already compressed files the RLE compression
method that can be part of the format is rarely used.
BinHex files can be easily recognized since they begin with the line:
(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)
and are followed by a line starting with a colon, ':'. The BinHex
encoding of the file follows, and is ended with another colon.
Binhex 4.0 files also can be identified externally by the suffix '.hqx'.
The best option to handle BinHex 4.0 is to use a utility
like StuffIt Expander and other StuffIt programs, and SunTar
to name only a few. StuffIt Expander has the advantage of also
being able to automatically expand StuffIt, Compact Pro, and
Applelink archives and being available on PCs.
The specifications to BinHex, should you be an interested programmer,
are available at the University of Michigan's Macintosh archive site
as mac/misc/documentation/binhex4.0specs.txt, or at InfoMac sites as
dev/info/binhex-40-specs.txt.
There is also a program/format called 'BinHex 5.0'; but it is NOT a
more advanced version of 'BinHex 4.0' but rather a separate _binary_
encoding format (see [2.2]). BinHex 5.0, written by Yves Lempereur,
in 1985 was the first MacBinary converter available. BinHex 5.0 (also
called MacBinary I) was replaced by the MacBinary II format which
added support for several then new MacOS features (see [2.4b]).
As new versions of BinHex were developed, they encoded only the
new format but continued to decode all previous formats:
BinHex 1.0 encodes .hex and decodes .hex
BinHex 2.0 encodes .hex & .hcx and decodes .hex & .hcx
BinHex 3.0 never existed
BinHex 4.0 encodes .hqx and decodes .hex, .hcx & .hqx
BinHex 5.0 encodes MacBinary I and decodes .hex, .hcx,
.hqx & MacBinary I
(b) 'uuencode' is a binary to text translator that serves the same
purpose as BinHex, except that it knows nothing about the Macintosh
resource/data fork structure. Uuencode was designed to allow UNIX
binary files to be easily transferred through text-only interfaces,
such as e-mail. Every uuencoded file contains a line similar to:
begin 644 usa-map.gif
followed by a series of lines of ASCII text characters (which are
normally 60 characters long and begin with the letter 'M').
The file ends with a line containing the word 'end'. There may be
other special keywords included. Externally uuencode files are
usially denoted with the suffix '.uu' or '.uue'.
Usually, one won't find Macintosh files in uuencode format; however,
most non-Macintosh specific binary data posted to Usenet is
uuencoded, so if you wish to use any of this data (such as the images
posted in alt.binaries.* and elsewhere), you will need to deal with
uuencode. The programs 'uuencode' and 'uudecode' exist on most UNIX
systems. If not, don't worry as there are many programs allow you to
convert to and from uuencode using your Macintosh (see [2.6]).
(c) Base64 is the encoding format used by Multipurpose Internet Mail
Extension (Mime) files. The reason mime uses Base64 rather than the
more popular uuencode format is that uuencode is not really a standard
but rather a collection of related but different formats. This rendered
uuencode impractical as a cross platform encoding format.
Mac files being sent via e-mail are usially binary encoded (usially
in AppleDouble) before being encoded in Base64.

Continue to:

• prev: 06 What is encoding? (File Formats and Conversion - Macintosh)
• next: 08 a) What are AppleSingle and AppleDouble? b) What is MacBinary? (File Formats and Conversion - Macintosh)

General Info

BinHex encoding converts an 8-bit file into a 7-bit format, similar to uuencoding. BinHex format preserves file attributes, as well as Macintosh resource forks, and includes CRC (Cyclic Redundancy Check) error-checking. This encoding method works on any type of file, including formatted word processing and spreadsheet files, graphics files, and even executable files (i.e. programs or applications). The encoded file can also be passed from computer to computer in its encoded form. The encoding will remain intact and it will be equally meaningless on all the machines until it is unencoded. To be usable or readable it must be converted back to its original format and be run on a compatible computer.

Note: This is not to be confused with MacBinaryencoding, which is an 8-bit format.
(By the way, the MIME type Base64 is a 6-bit format! Isn't math fun?)

What it looks like

Note that all lines other than the header and the last line are exactly 64 characters long (not counting the newline characters). If you receive a file in email containing lines of varying lengths, then someone's mail system may have damaged the file and you'll probably need to have it resent.

The line '(This file must be converted with BinHex 4.0)' Windows 7 64-bit download. is an integral part of the file format; in fact, if it is missing or even altered in any way, the file may not get recognized as binhex by a decoder program (not a problem for StuffIt Expander, though). Note also that this does not mean you need a program called 'BinHex 4.0' to decode a BinHex file; there are several utilities which can do the trick, the most popular of which are listed on this very page (the page you are reading right now).

Here is some C source code to un-HQX in Unix, the readme from macutil, Pascal source code of DeHQX 2.0 by Peter Lewis (a great set of code and a good 'standard' to follow), and some notes from Yves himself.

BinHex versus MIME

Uh-oh, flamebait! Dare I even attempt to tackle this issue? Actually, there is more than one issue here: we've got email attachments, archive file formats, available source code, level of complexity, and varying implementations regardless of platform. Hmm, I'll leave this alone for now; eventually I'll fill this space up with comparison tables, URLs, and scary stuff like that! In the meantime, the fact is that BinHex is ubiquitous and won't be disappearing anytime soon, so whether it is 'preferred' or not is, for the most part, a moot point.

Also, Microsoft has chosen to use the BinHex format as a wrapper for Macintosh ActiveX controls. Apple has specified that Sherlock plug-in updates be posted on web sites in BinHex.

See also TidBITS: Macintosh Internet File Format Primer.

Macintosh Utilities

• StuffIt Expander 4.5 (free decompression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• DropStuff w/Expander Enhancer (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• StuffIt Lite 3.6 (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• StuffIt Deluxe 4.5 (commercial compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• MindExpander 1.0 (free decompression utility from MindVision)
• BinHex 4.0 (do NOT use 5.0 -- that is an 8-bit binary format)
• DeHQX 2.0.1 by Peter Lewis
• SITcomm 1.0.1 (telecom program [discontinued] from Aladdin Systems)
• ZipIt 1.3.8 (shareware compression utility from Tom Brown)
• Eudora (Internet email program from Qualcomm)

DOS/Windows Utilities

• Aladdin Expander for Windows by Aladdin Systems
• DropStuff for Windows (shareware compression utility from Aladdin Systems)
• MindExpander 1.0 (free decompression utility from MindVision)
• Eudora (Internet email program from Qualcomm)
• PC BinHex 1.3 -- University of Minnesota 1992-1993
  Written by the Distributed Computing Services department and placed in the public domain.

  This Utility encodes binary files into a plain text format and decodes the resulting files into their original state. This program is compatible with the Macintosh version of BINHEX and with POPMail(tm) (the DOS counterpart to POPMail is Minuet ).
  For further information, see the following issues of theComputer & Information Services Newsletter:

  March 1993 issue, article: E-mail Enclosures, Part 1
  April 1993 issue, article: E-mail Attachments Part 2 - Using Pine
  January 1994 issue, article: Sending Files Micros & Pine (#3 in series)

Unix Utilities

SunOS/Sparc2
(Info provided by John Gianni, http://www.cadence.com)

Many Sparc un-binhexing utilities exist. I think most, if not all, are listed on archie servers (telnet archie.sura.net; login as 'qarchie'; run the command, 'prog binhex'; type 'mail yourLogin' to get the report; type 'quit' to exit). Youtube downloader mac os x 10.6 8ate mac os x 10 6 8.

hexbin hexbin.man
binhex binhex.man
xbin xbin.man
rdbinhex (script to automate unbinhexing and conversion to UNIX)

Amiga Utilities

MacTools v2.01b1 will decode BinHex files on the Amiga platform. On Genie, this file can be found in the Amiga RT library, file #19368. (It's probably also on Aminet..)Info provided by Mike Webb (page devoted to the Amiga, Texas Instruments TI-85 calculators, and music..for now - also soon to be the home of a new online Amiga magazine).

Apple ][ Utilities

From Harold.H on Genie:
No BinHex utils that I know of that have been released. I've been trying to find time to write one though :)
Wait.. GSCII+ (a IIgs desk accs) handles BinHex, but it's not exactly stable

Binhex 4.0 Converter

natural-innovations.com (c) 1995-2012 Walter Ian Kaye