Why does Base64 end with = or ==?

The = sign is padding. Base64 works in 3-byte groups. If the input isn't a multiple of 3 bytes, one or two = characters are added to pad the output to a multiple of 4 characters.

Does Base64 encrypt my data?

No. Base64 is encoding, not encryption. Anyone can decode it instantly. Use it for data transport, not security.

What is URL-safe Base64?

Standard Base64 uses + and / which have special meanings in URLs. URL-safe Base64 replaces + with - and / with _, making it safe to use in URLs and filenames.

How much does Base64 increase file size?

Base64 increases data size by about 33% — 3 bytes become 4 characters. A 1 MB file encodes to about 1.37 MB.

Can I encode images with this?

This tool encodes text strings. To embed an image in HTML, you'd encode the raw binary file as Base64, which requires a file reader — not a plain text encoder.

Tech

↵ to calculate

Base64 Encoder Decoder — Encode Decode Text online

Encode text to Base64 or decode Base64 back to text, right in your browser. Supports Unicode characters with character and byte counts.

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How to use this calculator

👉 Fill in the boxes below and your answer appears instantly — no maths needed, we do it all for you! 🎉

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In plain English — what does this do?

🤖 Computers only understand a secret language of 0s and 1s. This tool helps you turn normal words and numbers into that computer language — or turn it back into normal language!

📌 Direct Answer & Summary

Base64 is an encoding scheme that converts binary data into a text format using 64 printable ASCII characters. It's widely used to embed images in HTML/CSS, encode data in JWTs, transmit binary data in JSON, and attach files in email.

Plain Text

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Base64

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What is Base64 Encoder Decoder — Encode Decode Text online?

How to use it

1️⃣ Type or paste your text into the left textarea.
2️⃣ Click 'Encode →' to convert plain text to Base64.
3️⃣ To decode, paste a Base64 string into the right textarea and click '← Decode'.
4️⃣ The character count and byte size update automatically.
5️⃣ All processing happens in your browser — no data is sent to a server.

Formula

Base64 encoding: each 3 bytes of input becomes 4 Base64 characters. Output length = ceil(input_bytes / 3) × 4. Unicode text is first encoded as UTF-8 bytes before Base64 encoding.

💡 See it in action — a real example

The text 'Hello' encodes to 'SGVsbG8='. The '=' padding character is added to make the output length a multiple of 4.

❓ Common questions

Why does Base64 end with = or ==?: The = sign is padding. Base64 works in 3-byte groups. If the input isn't a multiple of 3 bytes, one or two = characters are added to pad the output to a multiple of 4 characters.
Does Base64 encrypt my data?: No. Base64 is encoding, not encryption. Anyone can decode it instantly. Use it for data transport, not security.
What is URL-safe Base64?: Standard Base64 uses + and / which have special meanings in URLs. URL-safe Base64 replaces + with - and / with _, making it safe to use in URLs and filenames.
How much does Base64 increase file size?: Base64 increases data size by about 33% — 3 bytes become 4 characters. A 1 MB file encodes to about 1.37 MB.
Can I encode images with this?: This tool encodes text strings. To embed an image in HTML, you'd encode the raw binary file as Base64, which requires a file reader — not a plain text encoder.

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