Base64 converter

Base64 converter tool encodes or decodes a string to or from Base64 format. Base64 is a group of similar binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format by translating it into a radix-64 representation. The term Base64 originates from a specific MIME content transfer encoding. Each non-final Base64 digit represents exactly 6 bits of data. Three 8-bit bytes (i.e., a total of 24 bits) can therefore be represented by four 6-bit Base64 digits. The 64 valid Base64 digits are ASCII characters [A-Za-z0-9+/] and the two special characters "=" and "/". The special character "=" is used to signify a special processing function. The special character "/" is used to indicate a bit that is not used. The encoding process represents 24-bit groups of input bits as output strings of 4 encoded characters. Proceeding from left to right, a 24-bit input group is formed by concatenating 3 8-bit input groups. These 24 bits are then treated as 4 concatenated 6-bit groups, each of which is translated into a single digit in the base64 alphabet. When encoding a bit stream via the base64 encoding, the bit stream must be presumed to be ordered with the most-significant-bit first. That is, the first bit in the stream will be the high-order bit in the first 8-bit byte, and the eighth bit will be the low-order bit in the first 8-bit byte, and so on.