What is Base64?

Base64 is a group of binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format. It's commonly used when there is a need to encode binary data that needs to be stored and transferred over media that are designed to deal with text.

Common Uses of Base64

• Embedding images directly in HTML or CSS using data URIs
• Encoding email attachments (MIME)
• Storing complex data in JSON
• Transmitting binary data over text-only protocols
• Encoding binary data in URLs

Example

URL-Safe Base64

URL-safe Base64 is a variant of Base64 encoding that can be safely used in URLs and filenames. It replaces the '+' and '/' characters with '-' and '_' respectively, and removes the padding '=' characters.

Base64 vs. URL Encoding

While both Base64 and URL encoding are used to represent data in a text format, they serve different purposes:

• Base64 encodes binary data into ASCII characters
• URL encoding ensures special characters are properly represented in URLs
• Base64 is often used for binary data like images and files
• URL encoding is specifically designed for query parameters and form data in URLs