Turn Base64 back into text or a downloadable file
Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere. Updated on 25 Oct 2026.Decoding reads a Base64 string back into the bytes it came from, whether those are a sentence, the payload of a JWT, a certificate or a whole file. Paste the string to get the text, or use Download when the bytes are not text; an image is shown as a preview first.
The page opens in Decode mode.
Paste the Base64 string or a data: URI into the Base64 pane.
Read the decoded text on the right; an image is shown as a preview instead.
Click Copy for text, or the download icon to save the decoded bytes as a file.
Padding with equals signs is optional, and the URL-safe alphabet that uses minus and underscore is recognised automatically.
This Base64 encoder turns text or any file into Base64 and decodes Base64 back into readable text, an image preview or a downloadable file. Output appears as you type, with a URL-safe mode for tokens and query strings and a one-click data URI when you encode an image.
People use it to inline a small logo into CSS or an HTML email, to read the payload of a token or a webhook body that arrived Base64-encoded, and to check what a client actually sent when an API rejects a request. It is also handy for pasting a certificate or a binary blob into a config file that only accepts text.
Encoding and decoding run in your browser with JavaScript. Files are read locally with the File API and never uploaded, so it is fine to use with private documents or keys. Text is treated as UTF-8, which means emoji and Hindi, Tamil or Arabic script round-trip correctly. The decoder accepts either alphabet, tolerates missing padding and line breaks, and spots PNG, JPEG, GIF and WebP output so you can preview it. A file you pick can be up to 20 MB, because the whole Base64 string is built in memory and a bigger one would freeze the tab; pasted text has no limit of its own.
The rest of the article, and all 6 questions about Base64 Encode & Decode, are on the Base64 Encode & Decode page.
Yes. There is no signup, no watermark and no cap on how often you use it. Pasted text has no length limit beyond what your browser can hold. A file you pick is capped at 20 MB, because the whole Base64 string is built in memory and a larger file would freeze the tab rather than encode.
Standard Base64 uses + and /, which have special meaning in URLs, and pads with =. URL-safe Base64 (RFC 4648 section 5) replaces them with - and _ and usually drops the padding. It is used in JWTs, OAuth tokens and query strings. Turn on the URL-safe switch to produce it; the decoder detects it automatically.
Choose Encode, switch the input to File, pick the image and turn on Data URI. The output starts with data:image/png;base64, and can be pasted straight into a CSS url() or an img src attribute. Keep inlined images small; anything over a few kilobytes is usually better served as a normal file.
The decoded bytes are not valid UTF-8 text, so they are probably a file such as a PDF, a ZIP or an image. Images are previewed; other binaries show a hex preview and a Download button that saves the bytes with a sensible name.
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