Encode text to Base64 or decode Base64 back to readable text, instantly and in your browser. GhostDev handles full UTF-8 — emoji, accents, and non-Latin scripts round-trip correctly, where naive btoa-based tools choke. Because it all runs locally with no upload endpoint, you can safely decode tokens, data URIs, and snippets you'd never paste into an online service. Free, no signup, no ads on the tool.
Base64 is an encoding, not encryption. It rewrites arbitrary bytes using 64 safe characters so that data can survive channels built for text — email bodies, JSON strings, data URLs, HTTP headers, and config files that would otherwise mangle raw binary. Anyone can decode it instantly, so it offers no protection whatsoever; treat a Base64 string as exactly as sensitive as the thing inside it.
Paste your text or Base64
Enter plain text to encode, or a Base64 string to decode.
Choose Encode or Decode
Encode turns text into Base64; Decode turns Base64 back into text. Bad Base64 is flagged rather than producing garbage.
Copy the result
Copy the output with one tap. The conversion happened entirely in your browser.
It makes data roughly 33% larger
Every three bytes become four characters, so encoded output is about a third bigger than the input. That's the cost of the format and it's why large files are rarely worth embedding as Base64 data URLs.
Standard vs URL-safe alphabets
Standard Base64 uses + and /, which have meaning inside URLs. The URL-safe variant substitutes - and _. If a token fails to decode elsewhere, a mismatch between these two alphabets is a common cause.
Padding matters to some decoders
The trailing = characters pad the output to a multiple of four. Some strict decoders reject input without it, while others reject input with it — if a value round-trips here but fails in your own code, check padding first.
Does it handle emoji and non-English characters?
Yes. GhostDev encodes and decodes via UTF-8, so emoji, accents, and CJK text survive the round trip intact.
Is my input uploaded?
No — encoding and decoding run in your browser. There's no upload endpoint and no request carries your text.
What happens if I paste invalid Base64?
The tool detects it and shows an error instead of producing meaningless output, so you know the string is malformed or has stray characters.
Can I decode a data URI?
Strip the data:...;base64, prefix and paste just the Base64 portion to decode the underlying content.
Is Base64 encryption?
No, and this is worth being clear about because it's a common and costly misunderstanding. Base64 is reversible by anyone with no key and no effort. If you need secrecy you need encryption; Base64 only makes bytes transport-safe.
Why does my decoded text look like gibberish?
Usually because the original bytes weren't UTF-8 text — a decoded image, zip, or protobuf will look like noise when displayed as characters. That's expected: the decode succeeded, the result simply isn't text.
Every GhostDev tool runs entirely in your browser. Your file is never uploaded — there's no upload endpoint to send it to.