Base64 Encoder Guide: How It Works and When to Use It
Base64 encoding explained: how the algorithm works, why it increases file size by 33%, and common use cases in APIs, CSS, and email.
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Tags: encoding, developer-tools, base64
Base64 Encoder Guide: How It Works and When to Use It Base64 is one of those encoding schemes you'll encounter constantly as a developer — in HTTP headers, email attachments, data URIs, JWTs, and configuration files. Understanding what it does, why it exists, and when to reach for it will save you from both misusing it and avoiding it where it genuinely helps. What Base64 Actually Is Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme. It converts arbitrary binary data into a sequence of printable ASCII characters. That's the entire job. It does not compress. It does not encrypt. It does not hash. It encodes. The "64" comes from the alphabet size: the encoding uses exactly 64 characters — A-Z (26), a-z (26), 0-9 (10), plus and (2 more) — plus for padding. Every character in the output is safe to…
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