Yes, you would probably do it similarly to the snippet you posted.

Here's a simple script that converts a file to a hex encoding:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

# convert binary file to hex

use strict;

@ARGV or die "Usage: $0 <filename>\n";

my $file = shift;

open(FH, $file) or die "Can't open $file: $!\n";
binmode(FH);

my $buf;

while (read(FH, $buf, 32)) {
  # 32 bytes fit nicely on one line when hex-encoded
  print unpack('H*', $buf), "\n";
}

__END__
[download]

And here's a script that converts a hex encoding back to the original data:

#!/usr/local/bin/perl -w

use strict;

$| = 1;

while (<DATA>) {
  chomp;
  print pack('H*', $_);
}

__END__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[download]

Of course, you could store the encoded gif in your script however you wish; a here doc would be an excellent way to do it.