When a contract is deployed, the bytecode of the contract shows in the raw transaction data for the transaction that created the contract, along with constructor arguments after the contract bytecode if there are any. However, in looking at many contract deployment transactions, there's a lot of data before the contract bytecode as well. What does this represent?
Taking a random example, the contract at address 0x41f28833be34e6ede3c58d1f597bef429861c4e2 has this bytecode:
https://etherscan.io/bytecode-decompiler?a=0x41f28833be34e6ede3c58d1f597bef429861c4e2
here's the contract creation transaction:
https://etherscan.io/tx/0x0bd8df07cf5cd52b86c6d419b68fc4c413d5c150594da05c0b5f511205ae603b
Looking at the "Input Data" (i.e. raw transaction data) etherscan shows here, there's a lot of data before the actual bytecode of the contract, roughly as long as the actual contract bytecode itself:
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
What does this represent?
