What is Encoding?
08 May, 2019
The purpose of encoding is to transform data so that it can be properly consumed by a different type of system. The goal is not to keep information secret but to ensure that the information is able to be properly consumed/transmitted.
Encoding transforms data into another format using a publicly available algorithm so that it can be easily reversed. It does not require a key, it only requires the algorithm that was used to encode it.
Some examples are: ASCII, Unicode, URL Encoding and Base64.