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Content Transfer Encodings

Encode event payloads for safe transport over text-based protocols.

Overview

Content transfer encodings transform binary data into a text-safe representation. They're optional — without a content transfer encoding, the payload is sent as-is.

Content transfer encoding runs after both serialization and content encoding.

Available Content Transfer Encodings

Encoding Config Description
Base64 base64 RFC 4648 Base64 encoding

Quick Example

Base64 encode for text-only transports: 

kete.routes.encoded.destination.content-transfer-encoding=base64

When to Use

Content transfer encoding is useful when:

  • The destination only accepts text (e.g., AWS SQS message bodies)
  • You're using a binary serializer (Protobuf, Avro, CBOR) over a text-based protocol
  • You're combining with content encoding (gzip + base64)

Processing Order

The encoding pipeline runs in this order:

  1. Serialization — event → bytes (e.g., JSON, Protobuf)
  2. Content Encoding — compress bytes (e.g., gzip)
  3. Content Transfer Encoding — encode bytes (e.g., base64)

See Also