About Base64
Base64 turns any data into plain letters, digits and a couple of symbols, so it can travel safely through systems built for text — URLs, JSON, XML, email, configuration files. Developers meet it constantly: API keys, JWT token payloads, inline images in CSS, email attachments. This tool encodes and decodes with correct UTF-8 handling, which many quick converters get wrong — emoji, Nepali and other non-Latin text survive the round trip intact here.
How to use it
- Paste text on the left.
- Press Encode to get Base64, or Decode to turn Base64 back into text.
- Chain operations with Output → input, and copy results with one click.
- For files, drop one into the file area to get a complete
data:URI — ready to paste into CSS or HTML.
Good to know
- Base64 is encoding, not encryption — anyone can decode it. Never treat it as a way to hide secrets.
- Encoded data is about 33% larger than the original; that's inherent to the format.
- Whitespace and line breaks inside pasted Base64 are handled automatically.
- Inline data URIs make sense for small images (under ~10 KB); larger files belong as separate assets.
Frequently asked questions
Is Base64 encryption?
No — it's just a text-safe way to write data, and anyone can decode it instantly. Never use Base64 to hide passwords or secrets; for real protection you need encryption.
Why do emoji and Nepali text break in some Base64 tools?
Naive tools use the browser's raw btoa/atob functions, which only handle Latin characters. This tool encodes text as UTF-8 bytes first, so every language and emoji survives the round trip.
What is a data URI?
A way to embed a whole file inside text, like 'data:image/png;base64,...'. Paste one into CSS or HTML and the image loads with no separate file — best kept for small images under about 10 KB.