I am thinking of using base64 encoded images for a site I am working on to optimize the load time.
Anyways, before I start, I was wondering: what are the advantages
It's only useful for very tiny images. Base64 encoded files are larger than the original. The advantage lies in not having to open another connection and make a HTTP request to the server for the image. This benefit is lost very quickly so there's only an advantage for large numbers of very tiny individual images.