group of binary-to-text encoding schemes using 64 symbols (plus padding)
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Base64
Base64 - Wikipedia
July 30, 2026 - ↑ Andrews, William (May 27, 2026). "Base64 explained — what it is, when to use it, and the gotchas that bite developers".
Medium
leapcell.medium.com › leapcell-the-next-gen-serverless-platform-for-web-hosting-dae89b12fa6c
Base64 Encoding Explained: How It Works and Why It Matters | Medium
February 17, 2025 - Base64 is an encoding and decoding method that represents binary data based on 64 printable characters. Because of its encoding and decoding characteristics, its main function is not security, but to ensure that content can be transmitted error ...
What is the difference between Base64 and Base64URL?
Base64URL is the same encoding with a URL- and filename-safe alphabet: - and _ replace + and /, and the = padding is usually dropped. It is common in URLs, filenames, and many web APIs.
blog.logto.io
blog.logto.io › all-about-base64
Base64 Encoder & Decoder, Explained | Private, In-Browser
Is Base64 encryption or secure?
No. It is reversible encoding with a public alphabet, so anyone can decode it instantly and it adds zero confidentiality. Encrypt sensitive data instead.
blog.logto.io
blog.logto.io › all-about-base64
Base64 Encoder & Decoder, Explained | Private, In-Browser
Why is my Base64 string about 33% larger?
Base64 turns every 3 bytes into 4 characters, so the encoded form is always roughly one-third bigger than the original bytes.
blog.logto.io
blog.logto.io › all-about-base64
Base64 Encoder & Decoder, Explained | Private, In-Browser
MDN Web Docs
developer.mozilla.org › en-US › docs › Glossary › Base64
Base64 - Glossary - MDN Web Docs - Mozilla
Base64 is a group of similar binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format by transforming it into a radix-64 representation. The term Base64 originates from a specific MIME content transfer encoding.
Built In
builtin.com › software-engineering-perspectives › base64-encoding
Base64 Encoding: What Is It? How Does It Work? | Built In
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that converts binary data to an ASCII string format, allowing data stored in binary to travel across text channels.
freeCodeCamp
freecodecamp.org › news › what-is-base64-encoding
What is base64 Encoding and Why is it Necessary?
November 28, 2023 - The main theory is that base64 causes a memory overhead of 33% (or 37% or whatever). But it seems to be correct only for an 8-bit scenario. Because, as I previously explained, base64 converts every 6-bit chunk of original data into a single ASCII character. If such a character is 8 bits long, it means that you are wasting 2 bits per every original chunk which is about 33%, just as promised by the experts.
Top answer 1 of 16
1266
When you have some binary data that you want to ship across a network, you generally don't do it by just streaming the bits and bytes over the wire in a raw format. Why? because some media are made for streaming text. You never know -- some protocols may interpret your binary data as control characters (like a modem), or your binary data could be screwed up because the underlying protocol might think that you've entered a special character combination (like how FTP translates line endings).
So to get around this, people encode the binary data into characters. Base64 is one of these types of encodings.
Why 64?
Because you can generally rely on the same 64 characters being present in many character sets, and you can be reasonably confident that your data's going to end up on the other side of the wire uncorrupted.
2 of 16
285
It's basically a way of encoding arbitrary binary data in ASCII text. It takes 4 characters per 3 bytes of data, plus potentially a bit of padding at the end.
Essentially each 6 bits of the input is encoded in a 64-character alphabet. The "standard" alphabet uses A-Z, a-z, 0-9 and + and /, with = as a padding character. There are URL-safe variants.
Wikipedia is a reasonably good source of more information.
Base64.Guru
base64.guru › home › learn
What is Base64? | Learn | Base64
To figuratively understand why Base64 was invented, imagine that during a phone call Alice wants to send an image to Bob. The first problem is that she cannot simply describe how the image looks, because Bob needs an exact copy. In this case, Alice may convert the image into the binary system and dictate to Bob the binary digits (bits), after that he will be able to convert them back to the original image.
Red Hat
redhat.com › en › blog › base64-encoding
Base64 encoding: What sysadmins need to know
November 20, 2025 - Base64 uses 6-bit characters grouped into 24-bit sequences. For example, consider the sentence Hi\n, where the \n represents a newline. The first step in the encoding process is to obtain the binary representation of each ASCII character.
Bunny.net
bunny.net › academy › http › what-is-base64-encoding-and-decoding
What is Base64 Encoding & Decoding?
Base64 is a format designed to prevent communication mishaps during the transfer using a standard table of characters for encoding and decoding information.
Logto
blog.logto.io › all-about-base64
Base64 Encoder & Decoder, Explained | Private, In-Browser
August 7, 2024 - Base64 is a way to represent binary data as plain text using 64 ASCII characters: A–Z, a–z, 0–9, plus + and /. It lets binary like images, keys, and email attachments travel safely through systems built for text.
iRiver
ioriver.io › terms › base-64-encoding
What Is Base 64 Encoding? How It Works & Advantages
October 20, 2025 - Both represent the same bytes, but they choose different characters. Standard Base64 uses plus and slash, and often adds padding with equals. Base64URL uses hyphen and underscore, and many systems drop padding. Base64URL survives inside URLs, filenames, and cookies without escaping.
Write Software Well
writesoftwarewell.com › base64-encoding-explained
Base64 Encoding, Explained
October 23, 2023 - As there are only 64 characters available to encode into, we can represent them using only 6 bits, because 2^6 = 64. Every Base64 digit represents 6 bits of data. There are 8 bits in a byte, and the closest common multiple of 8 and 6 is 24.
DEV Community
dev.to › leapcell › base64-encoding-explained-how-it-works-and-why-it-matters-fh9
Base64 Encoding Explained: How It Works and Why It Matters - DEV Community
February 17, 2025 - Base64 is an encoding and decoding method that represents binary data based on 64 printable characters. Because of its encoding and decoding characteristics, its main function is not security, but to ensure that content can be transmitted error ...
Anavem
anavem.com › learn › explanations › what is base64? definition, how it works & use cases
What is Base64? Definition, How It Works & Use Cases
March 21, 2026 - Base64 is an encoding scheme that converts binary data into ASCII text using 64 printable characters. Learn how Base64 works, its applications, and best
Lifewire
lifewire.com › base64-encoding-overview-1166412
Every Wonder How Base64 Encoding Works to Send Data Over Email?
November 13, 2020 - Base64 encoding is a process of converting binary data to an ASCII string format by converting that binary data into a 6-bit character representation.
DEV Community
dev.to › _d7eb1c1703182e3ce1782 › base64-encoding-explained-when-and-why-to-use-it-4hld
Base64 Encoding Explained: When and Why to Use It - DEV Community
March 19, 2026 - In this comprehensive guide, we'll break down the Base64 algorithm, walk through encoding step by step, cover every variant you'll encounter, show code examples in multiple languages, and explain the performance trade-offs so you can make informed decisions.
Devcrate
devcrate.net › blog › base64 guide
Base64 Explained — What It Is, When to Use It, and the Gotchas That Bite Developers | DevCrate Blog
May 24, 2026 - Base64 is an encoding that converts binary data into ASCII text using 64 specific characters: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, plus + and /. The = character is used for padding at the end.
ShiftAsia
shiftasia.com › community › base64-encode
Base64 Encoding - How it works? - Shift Asia
January 4, 2022 - What is Base64 encoding?Base64 encoding is a binary-to-text encoding/decoding scheme. Base64 encoding is used when any binary data, such as images or video needs to be transmitted over systems that are designed to transmit data in a plain-text ...
Analytics Vidhya
analyticsvidhya.com › home › understanding base64
Understanding Base64
June 10, 2025 - Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding methodology that helps represent binary data in ASCII string format. It’s often used to encode data for transmission over media that are mostly text, like emails, JSON-based APIs, etc., so that binary data ...