Base64 encoding vs Ascii85 encoding

Question

My project at work is using the Jackson JSON serializer to convert a bunch of Java objects into Strings in order to send them to REST services.

Some of these objects

Answer 1

ASCII85 is a nice encoding to use to save that extra bit of space. But it outputs many characters that would need to be escaped if naively sent over HTTP. Base64 encoding has a variant that can be sent over HTTP without any escaping.

Here's a javascript ASCII85 encoder in case anyone needs to try:

// By Steve Hanov. Released to the public domain.
function encodeAscii85(input) {
  var output = "<~";
  var chr1, chr2, chr3, chr4, chr, enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4, enc5;
  var i = 0;

  while (i < input.length) {
    // Access past the end of the string is intentional.
    chr1 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
    chr2 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
    chr3 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
    chr4 = input.charCodeAt(i++);

    chr = ((chr1 << 24) | (chr2 << 16) | (chr3 << 8) | chr4) >>> 0;

    enc1 = (chr / (85 * 85 * 85 * 85) | 0) % 85 + 33;
    enc2 = (chr / (85 * 85 * 85) | 0) % 85 + 33;
    enc3 = (chr / (85 * 85) | 0 ) % 85 + 33;
    enc4 = (chr / 85 | 0) % 85 + 33;
    enc5 = chr % 85 + 33;

    output += String.fromCharCode(enc1) +
      String.fromCharCode(enc2);
    if (!isNaN(chr2)) {
      output += String.fromCharCode(enc3);
      if (!isNaN(chr3)) {
        output += String.fromCharCode(enc4);
        if (!isNaN(chr4)) {
          output += String.fromCharCode(enc5);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  output += "~>";

  return output;
}