Is Base64 encryption?

No. It is a reversible encoding with no key. Do not use it to protect passwords or sensitive data.

Why does decoding report an error?

The input contains characters outside the Base64 alphabet, or the decoded bytes are not valid UTF-8 text, for example because it is a binary file.

Does it support accents and emoji?

Yes. The text is first turned into UTF-8 bytes, so accented letters and emoji work correctly.

This tool handles text. For files use a tool that reads content as binary.

Free online tools

Base64 and URL encoder and decoder

Choose a mode, paste text and see the result at once. The tool handles accented characters and emoji correctly because it works on UTF-8.

Mode

URL-safe variant (no padding)

Input

Result

Your data never leaves your browser. Nothing is sent to a server.

How to use it

Choose a mode: Base64 or URL, encode or decode.
Paste text into the input field.
When encoding Base64, tick the URL-safe variant if the result goes into a URL.
Copy the result.

What Base64 is

Base64 turns binary data or text into a string of ASCII characters. It is used to embed images in CSS, in authentication headers and in tokens. It is an encoding, not encryption: anyone can reverse it, so it protects nothing.

The URL-safe variant

Standard Base64 uses plus and slash characters and equals-sign padding, which break URLs. The URL-safe variant swaps them for a hyphen and an underscore and drops the padding. The decoder accepts both variants.

URL percent-encoding

In URLs special characters are written as a percent sign and a hex code, for example a space as 20. This tool encodes whole parameter values, so slashes and question marks are encoded too.

Frequently asked questions

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