How can you encode a string to Base64 in JavaScript?

Question

How can you encode a string to Base64 in JavaScript?

Question

I have a PHP script that can encode a PNG image to a Base64 string.

I'd like to do the same thing using JavaScript. I know how to open files, but I'm not sure how to do the encoding. I'm not used to working with binary data.

username

2020/07/27

Read less…

From here:

/**
*
*  Base64 encode / decode
*  http://www.webtoolkit.info/
*
**/
var Base64 = {

// private property
_keyStr : "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=",

// public method for encoding
encode : function (input) {
    var output = "";
    var chr1, chr2, chr3, enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4;
    var i = 0;

    input = Base64._utf8_encode(input);

    while (i < input.length) {

        chr1 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
        chr2 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
        chr3 = input.charCodeAt(i++);

        enc1 = chr1 >> 2;
        enc2 = ((chr1 & 3) << 4) | (chr2 >> 4);
        enc3 = ((chr2 & 15) << 2) | (chr3 >> 6);
        enc4 = chr3 & 63;

        if (isNaN(chr2)) {
            enc3 = enc4 = 64;
        } else if (isNaN(chr3)) {
            enc4 = 64;
        }

        output = output +
        this._keyStr.charAt(enc1) + this._keyStr.charAt(enc2) +
        this._keyStr.charAt(enc3) + this._keyStr.charAt(enc4);

    }

    return output;
},

// public method for decoding
decode : function (input) {
    var output = "";
    var chr1, chr2, chr3;
    var enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4;
    var i = 0;

    input = input.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9\+\/\=]/g, "");

    while (i < input.length) {

        enc1 = this._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc2 = this._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc3 = this._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc4 = this._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));

        chr1 = (enc1 << 2) | (enc2 >> 4);
        chr2 = ((enc2 & 15) << 4) | (enc3 >> 2);
        chr3 = ((enc3 & 3) << 6) | enc4;

        output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr1);

        if (enc3 != 64) {
            output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr2);
        }
        if (enc4 != 64) {
            output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr3);
        }

    }

    output = Base64._utf8_decode(output);

    return output;

},

// private method for UTF-8 encoding
_utf8_encode : function (string) {
    string = string.replace(/\r\n/g,"\n");
    var utftext = "";

    for (var n = 0; n < string.length; n++) {

        var c = string.charCodeAt(n);

        if (c < 128) {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode(c);
        }
        else if((c > 127) && (c < 2048)) {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 6) | 192);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
        }
        else {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 12) | 224);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode(((c >> 6) & 63) | 128);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
        }

    }

    return utftext;
},

// private method for UTF-8 decoding
_utf8_decode : function (utftext) {
    var string = "";
    var i = 0;
    var c = c1 = c2 = 0;

    while ( i < utftext.length ) {

        c = utftext.charCodeAt(i);

        if (c < 128) {
            string += String.fromCharCode(c);
            i++;
        }
        else if((c > 191) && (c < 224)) {
            c2 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+1);
            string += String.fromCharCode(((c & 31) << 6) | (c2 & 63));
            i += 2;
        }
        else {
            c2 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+1);
            c3 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+2);
            string += String.fromCharCode(((c & 15) << 12) | ((c2 & 63) << 6) | (c3 & 63));
            i += 3;
        }

    }

    return string;
}

}

Also, search on "javascript base64 encoding" turns a lot of other options, the above was the first one.

Sunny Milenov

2012/12/13

Internet Explorer 10+

// Define the string
var string = 'Hello World!';

// Encode the String
var encodedString = btoa(string);
console.log(encodedString); // Outputs: "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQh"

// Decode the String
var decodedString = atob(encodedString);
console.log(decodedString); // Outputs: "Hello World!"

Cross-Browser

// Create Base64 Object
var Base64={_keyStr:"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=",encode:function(e){var t="";var n,r,i,s,o,u,a;var f=0;e=Base64._utf8_encode(e);while(f<e.length){n=e.charCodeAt(f++);r=e.charCodeAt(f++);i=e.charCodeAt(f++);s=n>>2;o=(n&3)<<4|r>>4;u=(r&15)<<2|i>>6;a=i&63;if(isNaN(r)){u=a=64}else if(isNaN(i)){a=64}t=t+this._keyStr.charAt(s)+this._keyStr.charAt(o)+this._keyStr.charAt(u)+this._keyStr.charAt(a)}return t},decode:function(e){var t="";var n,r,i;var s,o,u,a;var f=0;e=e.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9\+\/\=]/g,"");while(f<e.length){s=this._keyStr.indexOf(e.charAt(f++));o=this._keyStr.indexOf(e.charAt(f++));u=this._keyStr.indexOf(e.charAt(f++));a=this._keyStr.indexOf(e.charAt(f++));n=s<<2|o>>4;r=(o&15)<<4|u>>2;i=(u&3)<<6|a;t=t+String.fromCharCode(n);if(u!=64){t=t+String.fromCharCode(r)}if(a!=64){t=t+String.fromCharCode(i)}}t=Base64._utf8_decode(t);return t},_utf8_encode:function(e){e=e.replace(/\r\n/g,"\n");var t="";for(var n=0;n<e.length;n++){var r=e.charCodeAt(n);if(r<128){t+=String.fromCharCode(r)}else if(r>127&&r<2048){t+=String.fromCharCode(r>>6|192);t+=String.fromCharCode(r&63|128)}else{t+=String.fromCharCode(r>>12|224);t+=String.fromCharCode(r>>6&63|128);t+=String.fromCharCode(r&63|128)}}return t},_utf8_decode:function(e){var t="";var n=0;var r=c1=c2=0;while(n<e.length){r=e.charCodeAt(n);if(r<128){t+=String.fromCharCode(r);n++}else if(r>191&&r<224){c2=e.charCodeAt(n+1);t+=String.fromCharCode((r&31)<<6|c2&63);n+=2}else{c2=e.charCodeAt(n+1);c3=e.charCodeAt(n+2);t+=String.fromCharCode((r&15)<<12|(c2&63)<<6|c3&63);n+=3}}return t}}

// Define the string
var string = 'Hello World!';

// Encode the String
var encodedString = Base64.encode(string);
console.log(encodedString); // Outputs: "SGVsbG8gV29ybGQh"

// Decode the String
var decodedString = Base64.decode(encodedString);
console.log(decodedString); // Outputs: "Hello World!"

jsFiddle

with Node.js

Here is how you encode normal text to base64 in Node.js:

//Buffer() requires a number, array or string as the first parameter, and an optional encoding type as the second parameter. 
// Default is utf8, possible encoding types are ascii, utf8, ucs2, base64, binary, and hex
var b = new Buffer('JavaScript');
// If we don't use toString(), JavaScript assumes we want to convert the object to utf8.
// We can make it convert to other formats by passing the encoding type to toString().
var s = b.toString('base64');

And here is how you decode base64 encoded strings:

var b = new Buffer('SmF2YVNjcmlwdA==', 'base64')
var s = b.toString();

with Dojo.js

To encode an array of bytes using dojox.encoding.base64:

var str = dojox.encoding.base64.encode(myByteArray);

To decode a base64-encoded string:

var bytes = dojox.encoding.base64.decode(str)

bower install angular-base64

<script src="bower_components/angular-base64/angular-base64.js"></script>

angular
    .module('myApp', ['base64'])
    .controller('myController', [

    '$base64', '$scope', 
    function($base64, $scope) {

        $scope.encoded = $base64.encode('a string');
        $scope.decoded = $base64.decode('YSBzdHJpbmc=');
}]);

davidcondrey

2014/10/22

Sunny's code is great except it breaks in IE7 because of references to "this". Fixed by replacing such references with "Base64":

var Base64 = {
// private property
_keyStr : "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=",

// public method for encoding
encode : function (input) {
    var output = "";
    var chr1, chr2, chr3, enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4;
    var i = 0;

    input = Base64._utf8_encode(input);

    while (i < input.length) {

        chr1 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
        chr2 = input.charCodeAt(i++);
        chr3 = input.charCodeAt(i++);

        enc1 = chr1 >> 2;
        enc2 = ((chr1 & 3) << 4) | (chr2 >> 4);
        enc3 = ((chr2 & 15) << 2) | (chr3 >> 6);
        enc4 = chr3 & 63;

        if (isNaN(chr2)) {
            enc3 = enc4 = 64;
        } else if (isNaN(chr3)) {
            enc4 = 64;
        }

        output = output +
        Base64._keyStr.charAt(enc1) + Base64._keyStr.charAt(enc2) +
        Base64._keyStr.charAt(enc3) + Base64._keyStr.charAt(enc4);

    }

    return output;
},

// public method for decoding
decode : function (input) {
    var output = "";
    var chr1, chr2, chr3;
    var enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4;
    var i = 0;

    input = input.replace(/[^A-Za-z0-9\+\/\=]/g, "");

    while (i < input.length) {

        enc1 = Base64._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc2 = Base64._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc3 = Base64._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
        enc4 = Base64._keyStr.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));

        chr1 = (enc1 << 2) | (enc2 >> 4);
        chr2 = ((enc2 & 15) << 4) | (enc3 >> 2);
        chr3 = ((enc3 & 3) << 6) | enc4;

        output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr1);

        if (enc3 != 64) {
            output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr2);
        }
        if (enc4 != 64) {
            output = output + String.fromCharCode(chr3);
        }

    }

    output = Base64._utf8_decode(output);

    return output;

},

// private method for UTF-8 encoding
_utf8_encode : function (string) {
    string = string.replace(/\r\n/g,"\n");
    var utftext = "";

    for (var n = 0; n < string.length; n++) {

        var c = string.charCodeAt(n);

        if (c < 128) {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode(c);
        }
        else if((c > 127) && (c < 2048)) {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 6) | 192);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
        }
        else {
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c >> 12) | 224);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode(((c >> 6) & 63) | 128);
            utftext += String.fromCharCode((c & 63) | 128);
        }

    }

    return utftext;
},

// private method for UTF-8 decoding
_utf8_decode : function (utftext) {
    var string = "";
    var i = 0;
    var c = c1 = c2 = 0;

    while ( i < utftext.length ) {

        c = utftext.charCodeAt(i);

        if (c < 128) {
            string += String.fromCharCode(c);
            i++;
        }
        else if((c > 191) && (c < 224)) {
            c2 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+1);
            string += String.fromCharCode(((c & 31) << 6) | (c2 & 63));
            i += 2;
        }
        else {
            c2 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+1);
            c3 = utftext.charCodeAt(i+2);
            string += String.fromCharCode(((c & 15) << 12) | ((c2 & 63) << 6) | (c3 & 63));
            i += 3;
        }

    }
    return string;
}
}

user850789

2011/07/18

You can use btoa (to base-64) and atob (from base-64).

For IE 9 and below, try the jquery-base64 plugin:

$.base64.encode("this is a test");
$.base64.decode("dGhpcyBpcyBhIHRlc3Q=");

Vitalii Fedorenko

2014/12/01

From the comments (by SET and Stefan Steiger) below the accepted answer, here is a quick summary of how to encode/decode a string to/from base64 without need of a library.

str = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";
b64 = btoa(unescape(encodeURIComponent(str)));
str = decodeURIComponent(escape(window.atob(b64)));

Demo

(uses jQuery library, but not for encode/decode)

str = "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog";

$('input').val(str);

$('#btnConv').click(function(){
  var txt = $('input').val();
  var b64 = btoa(unescape(encodeURIComponent(txt)));
  $('input').val(b64);
  $('#btnDeConv').show();
});
$('#btnDeConv').click(function(){
  var b64 = $('input').val();
  var txt = decodeURIComponent(escape(window.atob(b64)));
  $('input').val(txt);
});

#btnDeConv{display:none;}

<script src="https://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/2.1.1/jquery.min.js"></script>

<input type="text" />
<button id="btnConv">Convert</button>
<button id="btnDeConv">DeConvert</button>

crashwap

2018/02/03

Shog9 · Accepted Answer · 2/20/2019 7:40:18 PM

You can use btoa() and atob() to convert to and from base64 encoding.

There appears to be some confusion in the comments regarding what these functions accept/return, so…

btoa() accepts a “string” where each character represents an 8-bit byte – if you pass a string containing characters that can’t be represented in 8 bits, it will probably break. This isn’t a problem if you’re actually treating the string as a byte array, but if you’re trying to do something else then you’ll have to encode it first.
atob() returns a “string” where each character represents an 8-bit byte – that is, its value will be between 0 and 0xff. This does not mean it’s ASCII – presumably if you’re using this function at all, you expect to be working with binary data and not text.