Does Base64 make a file smaller?
No. Base64 normally increases the amount of text needed to represent the binary data.
How to encode or decode a file with Base64
Base64 is useful when binary data needs to be represented as text for APIs, HTML, JSON or other text-based workflows.
Encode a file to Base64 text, or paste Base64 text and decode it back into bytes.
Encoding creates a textual representation of the file. Decoding reverses that representation and downloads the recovered bytes using the filename you choose.
Open Base64 tool →Encode or decode Base64
- For encoding, choose a file.The tool reads the file and converts its bytes into Base64.
- Copy the Base64 text.Use the data where your workflow expects Base64 or a data URL.
- For decoding, paste Base64 text.Plain Base64 and standard Base64 data URLs are supported.
- Choose an output filename.Decode and download the recovered file bytes.
Base64 is not compression
The Base64 text is usually larger than the original binary file.
Data URLs include metadata
A data URL can include MIME type information before the Base64 payload.
Common questions
Can I decode a data URL?
Yes. Standard Base64 data URLs are supported.
Is Base64 encryption?
No. Base64 is an encoding format, not a security or encryption method.