Everyday Tools
Base64 encoder and decoder
Encode text to Base64 or decode Base64 strings back to plain text instantly. Handles Unicode and emoji correctly, with all processing done locally in your browser.
What Base64 is used for
Base64 turns binary or text data into a string made of only 64 safe ASCII characters. That makes it ideal whenever data has to travel through a channel built for plain text: embedding a small image directly in HTML or CSS with a data: URI, encoding email attachments, carrying binary values inside JSON, or passing tokens in URLs.
One thing Base64 is not is a security measure. Encoding is fully reversible by anyone, so it changes the format of data without protecting it. Use it to make data portable — never to hide a password or secret. For that you need real encryption, not encoding.
How to use this tool
- • Encode — paste any text (including emoji and accented characters) to get its Base64 string.
- • Decode — paste a Base64 string to recover the original text.
- • Private — everything runs in your browser, so sensitive strings never leave your device.
Frequently asked questions
- What is Base64 encoding?
- Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data using 64 ASCII characters. It's commonly used to embed images in HTML/CSS, encode email attachments, and safely carry data in URLs and JSON.
- Can it handle special characters?
- Yes. This tool safely handles Unicode and emoji by encoding them as UTF-8 before Base64 conversion, so accented letters and non-Latin scripts round-trip correctly.
- Does this tool store my data?
- No. All encoding and decoding runs locally in your browser memory. Nothing is uploaded, which makes it safe for tokens and sensitive strings.
- Is Base64 encryption?
- No — and this is important. Base64 is encoding, not encryption. Anyone can decode it instantly. Never use Base64 to 'hide' passwords or secrets; it only changes the format, not the security.
- Why does Base64 make data larger?
- Base64 represents every 3 bytes of input as 4 characters, so the output is about 33% larger than the original. That's the trade-off for making binary data safe to transmit as text.
- What is the difference between Base64 and Base64URL?
- Standard Base64 uses + and / characters, which have special meaning in URLs. Base64URL replaces them with - and _ so the string is safe to drop directly into a URL or filename.