How to Encode and Decode Base64 Text: Step-by-Step Guide

Encoding Text to Base64

1. Type or paste your plain text into the encoder.
2. Convert. The tool outputs a Base64 string representing your original text.
3. Copy the result for wherever you need it — a config file, an API call, or anywhere Base64 is expected.

Decoding Base64 Back to Text

1. Paste the Base64 string you want to decode.
2. Convert. The tool outputs the original plain text.
3. Read or use the decoded result as needed.

When a Decode Fails or Looks Wrong

A few common causes if decoding doesn't produce what you expected:

• Extra whitespace or line breaks accidentally included when copying the Base64 string — these can break decoding depending on the implementation.
• A truncated string — if the Base64 text was cut off partway through (a common issue when copying from a source that wraps or limits text), decoding will fail or produce garbled output.
• URL-safe Base64 variants — some contexts use a slightly different character set (replacing + and / with URL-safe characters); make sure you're using a decoder that matches the variant that was used to encode it.

A Quick Sanity Check

If you're not sure whether a string is valid Base64, a genuine Base64 string only ever contains letters, digits, +, /, and possibly trailing = padding characters. Anything else in the string means it either isn't Base64, or it's been corrupted somewhere along the way.