<
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)