About this tool
Why it exists.
Base64 turns binary or text into a subset of printable characters, which is why it shows up in data URLs, email attachments, tokens and headers. This converter handles Unicode properly by encoding to UTF-8 bytes first, then to Base64.
Toggle the URL-safe alphabet to replace '+' and '/' with '-' and '_' and drop padding, which is what many JWT and web API systems expect. Base64 is an encoding, not encryption: anyone can decode it.
How to use it.
- Choose Encode or Decode.
- Paste text and select the URL-safe option if your system requires it.
- Copy the result. Invalid Base64 is reported instead of silently mangled.
Good questions.
Does Base64 handle emoji and accented characters?
Yes. The tool converts text to UTF-8 bytes before encoding, so emoji, accented letters and non-Latin scripts survive the round trip. A naive atob() approach would corrupt them.
Is Base64 secure?
No. It is reversible encoding with no key, so it provides no confidentiality. Do not use Base64 to hide passwords, API keys or personal data. Use encryption or a vault for secrets.
Why is the Base64 output longer than my text?
Base64 represents every three bytes as four characters, so output is roughly one-third larger than the UTF-8 input, plus padding. That expansion is normal.