How to convert string to base64 value and vice versa in JavaScript?

August 16, 2020 - 2 min read

In computer science, Base64 is a group of binary-to-text encoding schemes that represent binary data in an ASCII string format by translating it into a radix-64 representation - as stated in Wikipedia.

To make it simple, it represents binary data in ASCII format.

How to convert a string to base64?

To convert a string to base64 you have to use the btoa() method in the window object in the browser.

  • You need to pass the string as an argument to the btoa() method.
  • The method returns a base64 encoded value.
// string
const str = "Hello, World!";

// convert to base64
const base64 = btoa(str);

console.log(base64); // SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==

How to convert a base64 to string?

To convert a base64 to string value you have to use the atob() method in the window object in the browser.

  • You need to pass the base64 value as an argument to the atob() method.
  • The method returns a string value.
// base64 value
const base64 = "SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==";

// convert to string
const str = atob(base64);

console.log(str); // Hello, World!

Abbreviation

  • btoa: stands for binary to ASCII
  • atob: stands for ASCII to binary

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