If using the photo image sub-command "data" with pure Tk, the image data is returned as binary string (bytearray). When using the Img extesnsion, the image data is returned as base64 encode string.
Behaviour can be seen by attached test script.
How should this discrepancy be resolved?
1. Do nothing, leave it as it is.
2. Switch over to the behaviour of Tk (bytearray) and skip base64.
3. Add bytearray as additional output.
I always found it strange that in some cases base64 was used. But I have no idea which applications actually use this, therefore I was reluctant to change it. Since you (paul) have more experience in this, I'm OK with changing it to byte array: That would be much more logical. If someone wants base64, they can always convert it.
So, I prefer 2)
Realized option 2 in Img 2.0.