Base64 Encode / Decode
Convert text to and from Base64. UTF-8 safe, runs entirely in your browser.
About this tool
This tool encodes text to Base64 and decodes it back. The implementation is UTF-8 safe, so accented characters, CJK text and emoji survive the round trip rather than coming back as mojibake.
Base64 exists to move arbitrary bytes through channels that only reliably carry printable ASCII: HTTP headers, email bodies, JSON string fields, Kubernetes Secrets and PEM certificate files. It is an encoding, not encryption. Anyone can decode it, and the result is the original data in full. Treating Base64 as a way to hide a password or an API key is a common and genuinely dangerous mistake. Everything runs in your browser, so nothing you paste is transmitted.
How to use it
One input box, two buttons.
- Paste plain text and select Encode to get the Base64 form.
- Paste Base64 and select Decode to recover the original text. To read a Kubernetes Secret, copy the value out of the data block and decode it here.
- If decoding fails, check for line breaks inserted by a mail client, or for URL-safe Base64, which uses hyphen and underscore in place of plus and slash.
- For escaping query-string values rather than binary-to-text conversion, use the URL encoder and decoder.
Common questions
Is Base64 a form of encryption?
No. Base64 is a reversible encoding with no key and no secret. Any tool, including this one, decodes it instantly. Use it for transport safety only, and use real encryption or a secrets manager for anything confidential.
Why is the encoded output longer than the input?
Base64 represents every 3 bytes as 4 ASCII characters, so the output is roughly 33 percent larger, plus padding to a multiple of four characters. That overhead is the cost of ASCII-safe transport.
Does this tool send my data to a server?
No. Encoding and decoding use the browser's built-in functions and the page makes no network request. Even so, avoid pasting live credentials into any web tool as a matter of habit.