What is Base64?
Base64 is a way to represent any data using only 64 safe characters: A–Z, a–z, 0–9, plus + and /. It is used whenever binary data or special characters must travel through a system that only handles plain text, such as email attachments (MIME), data URLs, HTTP Basic authentication headers, JSON APIs and configuration files.
How to use the converter
- Type or paste text and click Encode to Base64.
- To read a Base64 string, paste it and click Decode from Base64.
- Tick URL-safe when the result will go into a URL, a file name or a JWT.
- Click Use result as input to chain conversions, for example to check that decoding gives your original text back.
How Base64 works
The text is first turned into bytes using UTF-8. Every group of 3 bytes (24 bits) is split into four 6-bit numbers, and each number from 0 to 63 is replaced by one character from the Base64 alphabet. If the last group is short, = signs are added as padding.
"Man" → bytes 77 97 110 → bits 010011 010110 000101 101110 → 19 22 5 46 → "TWFu"
Because 3 bytes become 4 characters, Base64 text is always about 33 percent longer than the original data.
Full support for Indian languages and emoji
The browser's basic btoa() function fails on characters outside Latin-1, such as Devanagari or emoji. This tool encodes text as UTF-8 first, so Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, Chinese and emoji all encode and decode correctly.
Frequently asked questions
Is Base64 encryption?
No. Anyone can decode it in a second. Use it to transport data, never to protect passwords or private information.
What is the difference with Base64URL?
URL-safe Base64 replaces + with - and / with _, and usually drops the = padding, because those characters have special meanings in URLs.
How do I convert an image to Base64?
Use the Image to Base64 tool, which creates a ready-to-use data URI.