How to send a PDF file via JSON from my REST Service to my clients

Question

Is it possible to send binary data in JSON ? I am creating a REST Service in ASP.NET MVC where i want to return PDF file stored in my server to my clients. How will i do this ? my data transfer medium is JSON & XML.

[This](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1443158/binary-data-in-json-string-something-better-than-base64) post might be useful. — Jeshurun, May 25 '12 at 19:04

anurag · Answer 1 · 2015-06-01T07:45:08.933

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Take a look here: how to send pdf in json, it lists couple of approaches that you can consider.

The easiest way is to convert the binary data into string by using Base64 encoding. In C#, this would mean a call to Convert.FromBase64String. However this has space overhead as Base64 encoding means around +33% more memory.

If you can get away with it, this is the least complicated solution. in case additional size is an issue you can think about zipping it up.

edited Jun 01 '15 at 07:45

answered Jun 01 '15 at 05:49

anurag

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An answer containing only a link is not considered an answer here in SO. – Jun 01 '15 at 05:58
Thanks @LutzHorn, i have added the details. – anurag Jun 01 '15 at 06:04
A compression that *increases* the required space is not really compression. Let's call it an encoding. – Jun 01 '15 at 07:41

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered May 25 '12 at 19:04

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If you need a JSON or XML wrapper to your file you'll have to text-encode it, Base 64 for example.

answered May 25 '12 at 19:04

fmgp

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How to send a PDF file via JSON from my REST Service to my clients

2 Answers2