What is MIME encoding, and how do I decode it?
Aurictouch answers: Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) is a method by which binary files are encoded into text files so they can be sent via Usenet. These files can be decoded by several different utilities. Use the find function at the top of your AOL screen and type in MIME to be given a choice of several decoders, since FileGrabber sometimes takes a day or so to decode files. Animated GIF Man adds: MIME files, those that come in E-Mail as file_name.mim or appear as Base 64 ASCII txt in USENET NGs, should be downloaded in E-Mail (or saved from USENET) as *.b64 (instead of *.mim). Winzip (6.3+) from: http://www.winzip.com/downauto.cgi?winzip81.exe can be launched which will automatically extract/(decode) the single or multi-part files from the MIME document (*.b64). Current version: Winzip 8.1 [Editor’s note: There are many other programs that will decode .b64 files. WinZip, Wincode, and Stuffit from Alladin Software are just a few of them.
