Base64 Encoder & Decoder
Encode text to Base64 or decode Base64 back to text, with full Unicode support — runs entirely in your browser, nothing is ever sent to a server.
Encode / decode
Frequently asked questions
What is Base64 encoding for?
Base64 represents binary data (or any text) using only 64 printable ASCII characters, which makes it safe to embed in places that only reliably handle plain text — email attachments, data URLs for images embedded directly in HTML/CSS, JSON fields, and authentication headers like HTTP Basic Auth. It's an encoding for compatibility, not a form of encryption or compression — anyone can decode it back instantly.
Is Base64 the same as encryption?
No. Base64 is reversible by anyone with no secret key required, so it provides no confidentiality. It's sometimes mistaken for security because it makes text unreadable at a glance, but it should never be relied on to protect sensitive data.
What is the URL-safe variant?
Standard Base64 uses + and /, both of which have special meaning inside a
URL's query string or path. The URL-safe variant replaces them with - and _
so the output can be dropped directly into a URL without extra escaping — commonly seen in
JWTs (JSON Web Tokens) and other web-facing tokens.
Why would I omit the padding?
The trailing = characters pad the output to a multiple of 4 characters. Some systems
(again, JWTs are a common example) omit padding entirely since the decoder can infer it from the
string length. This tool can decode Base64 with or without padding either way, so omitting it is
purely about matching the format a specific downstream system expects.