Methods for converting and object to/from a base-64 encoded string

Base64Compression.cs

    public static void CopyTo(Stream src, Stream dest)
    {
      byte[] bytes = new byte[4096];

      int cnt;
      while ((cnt = src.Read(bytes, 0, bytes.Length)) != 0)
      {
        dest.Write(bytes, 0, cnt);
      }
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Serializes and compresses an object, then returns the result as
    /// a Base-64 encoded string.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="obj">object to compress</param>
    /// <returns>Base-64 encoded string</returns>
    public static string CompressObjectAsBase64(object obj)
    {
      BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
      byte[] gZipBuffer;
      byte[] compressedData;
      using (var objectStream = new MemoryStream())
      {
        formatter.Serialize(objectStream, obj);
        objectStream.Position = 0;
        using (var outputStream = new MemoryStream())
        {
          using (var gZipStream = new GZipStream(outputStream, CompressionMode.Compress, true))
          {
            CopyTo(objectStream, gZipStream);
          }

          outputStream.Position = 0;

          compressedData = new byte[outputStream.Length];
          outputStream.Read(compressedData, 0, compressedData.Length);
        }

        gZipBuffer = new byte[compressedData.Length + 4];
        Buffer.BlockCopy(compressedData, 0, gZipBuffer, 4, compressedData.Length);
        Buffer.BlockCopy(BitConverter.GetBytes(objectStream.Length), 0, gZipBuffer, 0, 4);
      }
      return Convert.ToBase64String(gZipBuffer);
    }

    /// <summary>
    /// Decompress Base64 string and then deserialize the raw bytes into
    /// an object.
    /// </summary>
    /// <param name="compressedText">The compressed Base-64 string</param>
    /// <returns>Deserialized Object</returns>
    public static T DecompressObjectFromBase64<T>(string compressedText)
    {
      byte[] gZipBuffer = Convert.FromBase64String(compressedText);
      BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
      using (var memoryStream = new MemoryStream())
      {
        int dataLength = BitConverter.ToInt32(gZipBuffer, 0);
        memoryStream.Write(gZipBuffer, 4, gZipBuffer.Length - 4);

        var buffer = new byte[dataLength];

        memoryStream.Position = 0;
        MemoryStream objectStream;
        T resultObject;
        using (var gZipStream = new GZipStream(memoryStream, CompressionMode.Decompress))
        {
          using (objectStream = new MemoryStream())
          {
            CopyTo(gZipStream, objectStream);
            objectStream.Position = 0;
            resultObject = (T)formatter.Deserialize(objectStream);
          }
        }

        return resultObject;
      }
    }