Base64 Encoding and Decoding: A Complete Guide
Understand Base64 encoding, when and why to use it, and common applications in web development and data transfer.
2025-01-124 min
What is Base64?
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format. It uses 64 printable characters to represent binary data.
Why Use Base64?
Base64 encoding is useful when you need to:
How Base64 Works
Base64 encoding works by:
This increases data size by approximately 33%.
Common Use Cases
Data URIs
<img src="data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo..." />API Authentication
Authorization: Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=JSON with Binary Data
{
"file": "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQh",
"type": "text/plain"
}