What is Uuencoding Tool?

Uuencoding (Unix-to-Unix encoding) is a form of binary-to-text encoding that originated in the Unix UUCP program. It was designed to allow the transmission of binary data over transmission systems that only support 7-bit ASCII data, such as early email systems and Usenet newsgroups. While largely superseded by MIME and Base64, it is still found in legacy systems and archives.

Input Formats

Binary data
Text strings
Uuencoded blocks (begin/end)

Output Results

Uuencoded string
Decoded text
Copy-ready result

Key Features

Legacy Support: Decode historical data from Usenet and old email archives

Unix Standard: Compatible with the classic 'uuencode' and 'uudecode' utilities

Simple Format: Easy to parse and generate

Privacy: 100% Client-side processing

File Recovery: Essential for digital archaeology and data forensics

Bidirectional: Encode and Decode text or binary files

Header Handling: Automatically manages 'begin' and 'end' blocks

Free & Simple: The simplest free tool to decode legacy Uuencoded files

Shareable LinksShare Uuencoded strings. (Limit: 5KB)

Who is this for?

Data Archaeology

Recovering files from old Usenet posts or email archives.

UsenetArchive recoveryLegacy data

Unix Systems

Transferring files between legacy Unix mainframes.

UUCPMainframeUnix transfer

How to Use

Paste your text.

Select 'Encode' to convert to Uuencoding.

Select 'Decode' to convert back.

Copy the result.

Examples

Input

Hello World

Output

begin 644 file.txt
#2&5L;&\@5V]R;&0`
`
end

Common Errors

Missing 'begin' and 'end' headers (required for some decoders)
File permission mode mismatch
Corruption due to whitespace stripping

Code Examples

Bash

uuencode file.txt file.txt > encoded.txt
uudecode encoded.txt

Frequently Asked Questions

Is this still used?

Rarely. Base64 has mostly replaced it. But if you find an old file from the 90s internet, you might need this to open it.

What is the 'begin 644' line?

That's the header! '644' tells Unix systems the file permissions, and the name follows. I need this line to decode it correctly.