Base64 Encode / Decode
Base64 encode and decode text with full UTF-8 and URL-safe support.
Runs in your browser. Nothing is uploaded.
What is Base64 Encode / Decode?
Base64 is a way of writing binary data, or any text, using only 64 safe characters: letters, digits, plus and slash. It is used everywhere data has to travel through systems that only handle plain text, such as email attachments, JSON payloads, data URLs, HTTP basic authentication headers and the tokens inside a JWT.
This tool encodes text to Base64 and decodes Base64 back to text, live as you type. It handles the full range of Unicode, so emoji, accented letters and Chinese or Arabic text survive a round trip. A URL-safe option swaps the plus and slash characters for dashes and underscores so the result can be used in URLs and file names, and you can choose whether to keep the equals-sign padding or wrap the output at 76 characters, the format used by email and PEM files.
Decoding is forgiving: spaces and line breaks are ignored, missing padding is added, and both the standard and URL-safe alphabets are recognised automatically. When something is tolerated, a short note tells you what was adjusted. If the input really is not Base64, the tool names the offending character and its position. Everything runs in your browser, so the text you paste is never uploaded.
How to use
- Choose Encode to turn text into Base64, or Decode to turn Base64 back into text.
- Type or paste your input. The result appears as you type, or press Ctrl/Cmd + Enter.
- When encoding, tick URL-safe, keep padding or wrap lines if you need those variants.
- Click Swap to move the result into the input and flip the mode, which is handy for checking a round trip.
- Use Copy to copy the output.
Example
Input
Hello, Toolsy! 👋
Output
SGVsbG8sIFRvb2xzeSEg8J+Riw==
Frequently asked questions
- Is Base64 encryption?
- No. Base64 is only an encoding: anyone can decode it instantly. Never use it to hide secrets or passwords.
- Why does the decoded text show strange characters?
- The data is probably not text, for example an image or a compressed file, or it was not encoded as UTF-8. Invalid bytes are shown as the replacement character, so copying the output would lose information.
- What is URL-safe Base64?
- It is a variant that replaces the plus sign with a dash and the slash with an underscore, and usually drops the equals-sign padding, so the value can be placed in a URL, a filename or a JWT without escaping.
- Does this tool upload my data?
- No. Encoding and decoding happen entirely in your browser, and nothing you enter is sent to a server.