Illustrator CS 5 and eps issues

Question

This past week, I was emailed a series of eps files for a job. I tried opening the files and would always get an error, nothing would open the files. Because of the time sensitive nature of the job, I was given access to the ad agency ftp site. I downloaded all of the eps files and they opened wtih no problems. My question is, does attaching an eps file to an email somehow corrupt the file?

Answer 1

Im most cases no, the worst expected problem is someone on a mac saves a file wihtout the .eps extrension, and then someone on the PC struggles to open this as they do not know what file format something is unless the open the code in a word processor. The other main reason for .zipping a file is fonts, as they will go corrupt, as the resource fork part will nto transfer if you do not zip it.
But yes occasionally a mail server (usually oder ones) can damage a .eps file, so I would always pack a file when emailing, as it does not take that long and can often save you time in the end as the compacting can make it go quicker and meet the minimum mb limit of an email server. .eps files can get very big and that larger the  file the more chance of it becoming corrupted during email transmission. In summary zip your files when you email, it will save you time and missing the due date for press.