Mozilla

Abstract:
This document discusses various questions, issues, bugs about Mozilla's data: URL parsing and protocol implementation.
This document is not an FAQ, but should address many non-testing questions about Mozilla's data: handling.

Audience:
Networking protocol and standards software testsers.
Mozilla users and content creators working with data: URLs
Engineers looking for background information on data: URLs and the testing methodology.

Overview:
data: URLs are defined by RFC 2397, and are described as:

   Some applications that use URLs also have a need to embed (small)
   media type data directly inline. This document defines a new URL
   scheme that would work like 'immediate addressing'. The URLs are of
   the form:

                    data:[<mediatype>][;base64],<data>

The URLs allow content creators to embed small files inline HTML documents, without complicated, document level formating, like using MIME and cid: or mid:

Design summary:

• preferences: none
• UI: none
• errors: none
• proxy: none
• dependencies: URL parsing, base64 decoding
• consumers: File Handling, Layout
  

Common problems:

• Syntax
  The format is very simple, but it is easy to forget to put a comma before the <data> segment or incorrectly base64 encode a file. How to use uuencode was described in a bug. Ian Hixie has a form so you can "build your own data: URL".
  
  
• Formating in HTML
  A data: URL provides a file-in-a-file, which potentially can be very long relative to the width of a document. As a URL, the data: should be formattable with whitespace (LF, TAB, spaces), but there are practical issues with how that relates to base64 encoding.
  
  
• Length limitations
  data: URLs in Mozilla are essentially unlimited in length. However browsers are not required to support unlimited length data: URLs as shown by the following document: Environment provided by the document.
  For example, data: URLs in Opera are limited to around 4100 characters.
  
• Lack of error handling
  Invalid parameters, in media or typos when specifying "base64" are ignored, but no error is provided.
  

Testing requirements:
data: should be tested by security QA and internationalization.

Other browsers:
The data: protocol is supported by Opera v7.20 and above.
However, data: URLs are not supported by IE or Safari. If you have time to try out other browsers, please send us the results.

References:
RFC 2397 - The "data" URL scheme
Technical review of RFC 2397