How can you encode a string to Base64 in JavaScript?
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.
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 between0and0xff. 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.
See also:
- How do I load binary image data using Javascript and XMLHttpRequest?
Most comments here are outdated. You can probably use both btoa() and atob(), unless you support really outdated browsers.
Check here:
- https://caniuse.com/?search=atob
- https://caniuse.com/?search=btoa
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 for "JavaScript base64 encoding" turns up a lot of other options, and the above was the first one.
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.
// The 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=');
}]);
Sunny's code is great except it breaks in Internet Explorer 7 because of references to "this". It was 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;
}
}