css/svg create larger background image - html

Question

I am trying to replace an existing libraries background image with a slightly larger version. For reference, it is just a little drag handle in the corner of a "draggable" item. Upon inspection, I see the original dev is just setting a little background-image like so:
position: absolute;
background: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBzdGFuZGFsb25lPSJubyI/P…4yIDAgTCA2IDAgTCA2IDYgTCA2IDYgWiIgZmlsbD0iIzAwMDAwMCIvPg0JPC9nPg08L3N2Zz4=) bottom right no-repeat;
background-origin: content-box;
I am wondering how the data:image/svg+xml;base64,PD94bWwgdmVyc2lvbj0iMS4wIiBzdGFuZGFsb25lPSJubyI/P…4yIDAgTCA2IDAgTCA2IDYgTCA2IDYgWiIgZmlsbD0iIzAwMDAwMCIvPg0JPC9nPg08L3N2Zz4= was generated and if it is possible to make my own with just a slightly larger handle. I have access to tools like photoshop/illustrator but I am thinking maybe that is overkill. I want to make the little grey handle maybe 5px larger in each direction. Unsure where to start with this, any advice is welcome. Thanks!
Edit - here it is in a codepen http://codepen.io/ajmajma/pen/NAmPQx

Answer 1

The original developer used a clever technique called data URI to avoid an unnecessary request for an image resource*. This is done by using the syntax: data(mime-type;base64,base64-string).
Open a developer tools' console in your browser and run the following code (the base64 string is from your example):
atob('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')
The result is how the browser sees this image:
<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no"?>
<!-- Generator: Adobe Fireworks CS6, Export SVG Extension by Aaron Beall (http://fireworks.abeall.com) . Version: 0.6.1 -->
<!DOCTYPE svg PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD SVG 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/Graphics/SVG/1.1/DTD/svg11.dtd">
<svg id="Untitled-Page%201" viewBox="0 0 6 6" style="background-color:#ffffff00" version="1.1"
xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xml:space="preserve"
x="0px" y="0px" width="6px" height="6px"
>
<g opacity="0.302">
<path d="M 6 6 L 0 6 L 0 4.2 L 4 4.2 L 4.2 4.2 L 4.2 0 L 6 0 L 6 6 L 6 6 Z" fill="#000000"/>
</g>
</svg>
You can edit the SVG code as you wish in any visual editor or just textually and then run in the browser's console btoa('updated-svg-code') on it. Wrap the resulting string with data:image/svg+xml;base64,%UPDATED% and use it as a background image.
For more information about atob and btoa JavaScript functions for base64-manipulation, see an article at MDN.
* - note that the price for avoiding an extra request is an increase by 33% of the CSS file size. This is usually mitigated by the usage of GZIP compression, though.