Is Base64 encryption?

No. It is an encoding. Do not use it to protect a secret.

How is Unicode handled?

Text is encoded as UTF-8 bytes before Base64, and decoded back as UTF-8. It is not treated as a series of Latin-1 characters.

What does URL-safe change?

+ becomes -, / becomes _, and padding = is removed on encode. Decode accepts that form and restores the bytes.

Base64 Encoder & Decoder

Turn UTF-8 text or a local file into Base64, or decode it back. Standard and URL-safe alphabets are both supported. Base64 hides nothing from someone who can read the text.

Base64 is an encoding, not encryption. Text is UTF-8. URL-safe output uses - and _ and drops = padding.

Text

Base64

aMOpbGxvIPCfmIA=

Standard Base64

How to use it

Choose encode or decode, and standard or URL-safe output.
Paste text or upload a file up to 1.5 MB.
Copy the result or download decoded bytes when they are not UTF-8 text.

Common mistakes

Base64 is not encryption. Anyone can decode it.
URL-safe text uses - and _ rather than + and /.
Decoding a binary file as text fails when the bytes are not UTF-8. Download the bytes instead.

Examples

UTF-8

héllo 😀 round-trips through standard Base64.

URL-safe

The URL-safe form uses - and _ and omits = padding.

Frequently asked questions

Processing stays in this browser tab. What you paste is not uploaded, and this tool does not write it to local storage.