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Payload Encoding

The XML invoice payload (e.g. Peppol BIS 3 / UBL 2.1 document) must be encoded before transmission. Two encoding modes are supported via the transformationType attribute.

Encoding modes

Default mode. Encode the raw XML bytes as Base64. Suitable for most invoices.

<eXite:payload eXite:transformationType="b64">
  PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0i...
</eXite:payload>

Recommended for large documents (>1 MB). Apply standard ZIP compression first, then Base64 encode the result.

<eXite:payload eXite:transformationType="zipb64">
  H4sIAAAAAAAA/6tWKkktLlGyUl...
</eXite:payload>

Billing

eXite® billing is based on the decoded (uncompressed) payload size — not the compressed wire size.

When to use zipb64

Use zipb64 when:

  • The invoice XML exceeds 1 MB (e.g. invoices with many line items or attachments)
  • You are sending multiple invoices in a batch and want to reduce total transfer size

For typical Peppol BIS 3 invoices, b64 is sufficient.