<p>The range of characters, particularly the <code>+</code> and <code>/</code> as the only punctiation, mean that this is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64" rel="nofollow noreferrer">base64 encoded</a>. So the first step is to decode it from Base64. You can then view it as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Hexadecimal</a> which is generally much more useful for extracting data items from raw binary data records.</p>
<p>I don't see anywhere that Electrum document the format of a transaction file. You may have to work that out by looking for specific transaction data or for item values that you know are commonly found in bitcoin transactions as transmitted over the network.</p>
<p>The general format for a transaction <em>as transmitted on the network</em> are <a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction" rel="nofollow noreferrer">documented</a></p>
<blockquote>
<div class="s-table-container">
<table class="s-table">
<thead>
<tr>
<th>Field</th>
<th>Description</th>
<th>Size</th>
</tr>
</thead>
<tbody>
<tr>
<td>Version no</td>
<td>currently 1</td>
<td>4 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Flag</td>
<td>If present, always 0001, and indicates the presence of witness data</td>
<td>optional 2 byte array</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>In-counter</td>
<td>positive integer VI = VarInt</td>
<td>1 - 9 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>list of inputs</td>
<td>the first input of the first transaction is also called &quot;coinbase&quot; (its content was ignored in earlier versions)</td>
<td>-many inputs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Out-counter</td>
<td>positive integer VI = VarInt</td>
<td>1 - 9 bytes</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>list of outputs</td>
<td>the outputs of the first transaction spend the mined bitcoins for the block</td>
<td>-many outputs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Witnesses</td>
<td>A list of witnesses, 1 for each input, omitted if flag above is missing</td>
<td>variable, see Segregated_Witness</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>lock_time</td>
<td>if non-zero and sequence numbers are &lt; 0xFFFFFFFF: block height or timestamp when transaction is final</td>
<td>4 bytes</td>
</tr>
</tbody>
</table>
</div></blockquote>
<p>and so on.</p>
<p>The network order is mostly <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness" rel="nofollow noreferrer">big endian</a> so a <code>Version no</code> with value <code>1</code> might show in hexadecimal as <code>01000000</code></p>
<p>There are a handful of different transaction output types. So you might have to test for several types to get the full details.</p>
<p>There's no guarantee that Electrum stores its data in the network format though - it might be completely different.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2022-02-27T23:51:09.127Z
2022-02-28T00:02:09.313Z
2022-02-28T00:02:09.313Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>I m playing around with Electrum wallet, with watch only address. When i open transaction file i see text like(this is just part of it): BegDAAAAAAAAGXapFCDUWmp2JTVwDOngshbjGZQzXbiliKzoAwAAAAAAABl2qRQ+5BM9mR9S/faiXJg04HRax0JIpIis6AMAAAAAAAAZdqkU4mZG24SwYC8ys0taYso8rh+Rt3mIrOgDAAAAAAAAGXapFO9Yr7aXsJRCPOkHIfuxmjWe98UOiKwj4gQAAAAAABl2qRQqOXKrS+InhBUFWUeH0xz2br0eIoisA+AIAAABAP1PAQEAAAABVUNlt7XSzkn0QqfYv1BxvZqqMi/tiRWnHdAHoqR1rRkBAAAA2gBHMEQCIFx9Axsj2VaCBfJWg9POcLNDg5zygAVV7at8ykTYDlqbAiAcN/hNHS8jxjE7yJfuyQV/</p>
<p>What that means and how to read this if possible?
Thanks in advance!</p>

<electrum>
Watch-only bitcoin address, Transaction file?
lepy
# Watch-only bitcoin address, Transaction file?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2022-02-27)

I m playing around with Electrum wallet, with watch only address. When i open transaction file i see text like(this is just part of it): BegDAAAAAAAAGXapFCDUWmp2JTVwDOngshbjGZQzXbiliKzoAwAAAAAAABl2qRQ+5BM9mR9S/faiXJg04HRax0JIpIis6AMAAAAAAAAZdqkU4mZG24SwYC8ys0taYso8rh+Rt3mIrOgDAAAAAAAAGXapFO9Yr7aXsJRCPOkHIfuxmjWe98UOiKwj4gQAAAAAABl2qRQqOXKrS+InhBUFWUeH0xz2br0eIoisA+AIAAABAP1PAQEAAAABVUNlt7XSzkn0QqfYv1BxvZqqMi/tiRWnHdAHoqR1rRkBAAAA2gBHMEQCIFx9Axsj2VaCBfJWg9POcLNDg5zygAVV7at8ykTYDlqbAiAcN/hNHS8jxjE7yJfuyQV/

What that means and how to read this if possible?
Thanks in advance!

**Tags:** electrum


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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2022-02-27. Score: 0 | Accepted answer

The range of characters, particularly the `+` and `/` as the only punctiation, mean that this is [base64 encoded](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64). So the first step is to decode it from Base64. You can then view it as [Hexadecimal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexadecimal) which is generally much more useful for extracting data items from raw binary data records.

I don't see anywhere that Electrum document the format of a transaction file. You may have to work that out by looking for specific transaction data or for item values that you know are commonly found in bitcoin transactions as transmitted over the network.

The general format for a transaction *as transmitted on the network* are [documented](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Transaction)

> | Field | Description | Size |
> | --- | --- | --- |
> | Version no | currently 1 | 4 bytes |
> | Flag | If present, always 0001, and indicates the presence of witness data | optional 2 byte array |
> | In-counter | positive integer VI = VarInt | 1 - 9 bytes |
> | list of inputs | the first input of the first transaction is also called "coinbase" (its content was ignored in earlier versions) | -many inputs |
> | Out-counter | positive integer VI = VarInt | 1 - 9 bytes |
> | list of outputs | the outputs of the first transaction spend the mined bitcoins for the block | -many outputs |
> | Witnesses | A list of witnesses, 1 for each input, omitted if flag above is missing | variable, see Segregated\_Witness |
> | lock\_time | if non-zero and sequence numbers are < 0xFFFFFFFF: block height or timestamp when transaction is final | 4 bytes |

and so on.

The network order is mostly [big endian](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endianness) so a `Version no` with value `1` might show in hexadecimal as `01000000`

There are a handful of different transaction output types. So you might have to test for several types to get the full details.

There's no guarantee that Electrum stores its data in the network format though - it might be completely different.


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