[XeTeX] Writing binary data in \special

[Heiko Oberdiek]

Hello,

I want to use \special with arbitrary binary data, e.g.:
  \special{pdf: object @my <</Hello/World>>streamXYZäFOOendstream}^1
However 8bit characters are recorded and written in UTF-8.

\XeTeXinputencoding bytes is only a very partial solution:
* It doesn't work without --etex
* "\XeTeXoutputencoding" is missing.

Is there a way to write arbitrary binary data in files
and \special commands? Or is this limited to 7bit or UTF-8?

Yours sincerely
  Heiko Oberdiek

^1 For the example the workaround would be using the
   filter ASCII85Decode (or ASCIIHexDecode). But that blows
   the stream contents and increases the final PDF file size.