# Base64 Text Guide

Encode and decode UTF-8 text to and from Base64, URL-safe optional.

- Tool: https://ilham.dev/tools/base64-string-converter/
- Guide URL: https://ilham.dev/guides/base64-string-converter/
- Tool guides index: https://ilham.dev/guides/tools/
- Broader guide: Security and Cryptography Basics for Developers (https://ilham.dev/guides/security-cryptography-basics/)

## What it does

Encode UTF-8 text to Base64, or decode it back, with an optional URL-safe alphabet where + and / become - and _ and the padding is dropped. Multi-byte characters are handled correctly because the text is encoded to UTF-8 bytes first, so accented letters and emoji round-trip without corruption.

## Use the tool

Open https://ilham.dev/tools/base64-string-converter/, add the input the tool asks for, run it, and check the output before using it elsewhere.

## Input and output

- Input: text.
- Output: text.
- Category: Encoding.

## Privacy and processing
Processing happens locally in your browser. This tool does not upload the input to ilham.dev.

## Questions

### What is URL-safe Base64 for?

Standard Base64 uses + and /, both of which have to be escaped inside a URL. The URL-safe variant swaps them for - and _ so the value can sit in a query string or a filename untouched.

### Is Base64 a form of encryption?

No. It is a reversible encoding with no key, and anyone can decode it. Use the AES tool if you need actual confidentiality.