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Base64 Text Encoder & Decoder

Encode plain text into Base64 format for safe data transmission, or decode Base64 strings back to their original readable form. This tool fully supports UTF-8 characters including Unicode, emoji, and multibyte text. All conversion happens in your browser — your data never leaves your device.

Text to Base64 Encoder

Enter text to encode it into Base64 format.

Base64 to Text Decoder

Paste your Base64 encoded string to decode it back to the original text.

How It Works

Base64 encoding transforms binary data or text into a set of 64 printable ASCII characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /). Each group of three input bytes maps to four output characters, with padding (=) added when the input length isn't a multiple of three. This tool handles UTF-8 text by first encoding multi-byte characters into their UTF-8 byte representation before applying Base64 encoding, ensuring international characters, emoji, and special symbols are preserved accurately.

Common Use Cases

  • Data transmission: Safely transmit binary or special characters over text-only protocols like SMTP, HTTP headers, or JSON APIs.
  • Configuration files: Store binary data (certificates, keys) in text-based config formats like YAML or XML.
  • Data URIs: Embed small resources inline in web pages.
  • Debugging: Quickly inspect encoded payloads from APIs, logs, or email headers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Base64 encoding?
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data using a set of 64 printable ASCII characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /). It is widely used to encode data for safe transmission over text-based protocols such as email, HTTP, and JSON, where raw binary data could cause issues.
Does Base64 encrypt data?
No, Base64 is an encoding method, not an encryption method. It does not provide any security or confidentiality. Anyone can decode a Base64 string back to its original content without needing a key or password. If you need to protect sensitive data, use proper encryption instead.
Why does Base64 increase data size?
Base64 encoding maps every 3 bytes of input data to 4 output characters, resulting in approximately 33% size overhead. This increase is an inherent trade-off of representing binary data in a text-safe format using only 64 printable ASCII characters.
Does this tool support Unicode?
Yes, this tool fully supports UTF-8 encoding, which means it can handle all Unicode characters including international alphabets, accented characters, CJK scripts, emoji, and other multibyte text. The text is first encoded to its UTF-8 byte representation before Base64 conversion.

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