Dataurmaker

Dataurmaker is a term used to describe software tools that generate data URLs (data URIs) from binary or text data. These tools can be standalone applications, library modules, or online services. They are used to embed small resources directly into HTML, CSS, or JavaScript, reducing the number of HTTP requests required to render a page.

How dataurmaker works: The user provides a file and, optionally, a specified MIME type. The tool reads the input and encodes it into a data URL, typically using base64 encoding, though some tools offer percent-encoding as an alternative. The output has the form data:[media-type][;base64],<data>. The resulting string can be used as the value of an image src, a font URL, or a CSS background-image, among other uses.

Common features include batch conversion, CLI or GUI interfaces, integration with build systems, and support for a wide range of MIME types (images, fonts, SVG, etc.). Some implementations offer options to strip metadata, select encoding, or customize line-wrapping for readability.

Usage considerations: Data URLs can increase the size of a page when used for large assets, since base64 encoding adds roughly 33% overhead. They disable external caching for those resources and can reduce readability of source code. Because of these trade-offs, dataurmaker tools are typically used for tiny assets or isolated cases where a request would be costly or inconvenient, such as emails or offline HTML apps.

History and standards: The data URL scheme is defined in RFC 2397 (1998). Data URLs are supported by major browsers in img, script, object, and CSS contexts, making dataurmaker a practical helper in web development workflows.

See also: data URL, base64 encoding, inline resources.