# to_base64.pl
use MIME::Base64 qw(encode_base64);

open (IMAGE, $ARGV[0]) || die "$!";
binmode(IMAGE);
local $/;
my $file_contents = <IMAGE>;
close IMAGE;
open (B64, ">$ARGV[0].b64") || die $!;
print B64 encode_base64($file_contents);
close B64;
print "output file is $ARGV[0].b64\n";