CI3 Encrypt/Decrypt Images

I have successfully encrypted and decrypted other file types on the fly so, i believe my code is correct but I can post it if you want to see it.

How do you encrypt/decrypt images? Must you Base64_encode before encrypting and base64_decode after decrypting? When I do I get: (top portion of the file only, I actually get alot more)

����JFIF


xx��>CREATOR: gd-jpeg v1.0 (using IJG JPEG v80), default quality ��C    $.' ",#(7),01444'9=82<.342��C
 2!!22222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222222����
"

��







 ���

}
!1AQa"q2���#B��R��$3br� %&'()*456789:CDEFGHIJSTUVWXYZcdefghijstuvwxyz���������������������������������������������������������������������������










 ���

w
!1AQaq"2�B���� #3R�br� $4�%�

So, it looks like it decode/decrypts but I keep getting the It has an Error message when I add the header for image/jpg before echoing it out to the browser.

Any and All assistance appreciated.