Scan & Generate
Free Base64 Encoder / Decoder
Encode text to Base64 or decode Base64 back to plain text. Everything runs in your browser — nothing is uploaded.
Encode to Base64
Decode from Base64
What is Base64 Encoding?
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data using 64 printable ASCII characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /). It's commonly used when binary data needs to be transmitted over text-based protocols.
Common Use Cases
- Data URIs — embed images directly in HTML/CSS using
data:image/png;base64,... - Email attachments — MIME encoding uses Base64 for binary attachments
- API authentication — HTTP Basic Auth encodes credentials in Base64
- QR code data — binary data in QR codes is often Base64-encoded
- JSON Web Tokens (JWT) — the payload of JWTs is Base64url-encoded
How It Works
Base64 takes 3 bytes (24 bits) of binary data and splits them into 4 groups of 6 bits each. Each 6-bit group maps to one of 64 characters. If the input length isn't a multiple of 3, padding characters (=) are added.
Scan QR Codes Containing Base64 Data
The Scan & Generate app can scan QR codes and barcodes that contain encoded data, with one-tap copy and share functionality.