ℹ️ What is Base64 Encoding?
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format. It uses 64 printable characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /) to encode binary data.
How Base64 Works:
- Encoding: Converts binary data (or text) into ASCII characters
- Safety: Ensures data can be safely transmitted over text-only protocols
- Size Increase: Encoded data is ~33% larger than original
- Reversible: Lossless encoding, original data can be fully recovered
Common Use Cases:
- JWT Tokens: Header and payload are Base64URL-encoded
- SAML Assertions: SAML responses are Base64-encoded XML
- Basic Authentication: Username:password encoded in HTTP headers
- Data URLs: Embedding images in HTML/CSS (data:image/png;base64,...)
- Email Attachments: MIME encoding for binary files in emails
- API Requests: Encoding binary data in JSON payloads
Base64 vs Base64URL:
- Base64: Uses + and / characters, may have = padding
- Base64URL: Uses - and _ (URL-safe), no padding. Used in JWTs
🔒 Privacy Notice
Client-side only: All Base64 encoding and decoding is performed locally in your browser using native JavaScript functions (btoa/atob). No data is sent to any server. Your content remains completely private.
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