Image to Base64 Converter — Data URL Encoder & Preview

It is an image written as text. The binary bytes are turned into characters from a 64-symbol alphabet and wrapped in a data URL of the form data:image/png;base64,… . Because the result is text, it can be placed directly in an HTML src, a CSS background or a JSON field with no separate file to host.

Base64 uses four characters to carry three bytes, so the text is about 33% larger than the original file. For a tiny icon that is irrelevant; for a photograph the inflated inline string is usually the wrong choice, and a normal image file is smaller and cacheable.

No. A file you choose is read locally by the browser and converted in the page; nothing is sent to a server. You can also paste a data URL or base64 string without choosing a file at all.

If the input is a data URL it reads the MIME type from the data: prefix. For a bare base64 string it sniffs the file signature — the magic bytes at the start, such as the PNG or JPEG header — because base64 alone carries no type information.

A preview needs the whole image, not just a fragment, and the data URL must be well-formed. A truncated string, stray whitespace inside the payload, or a MIME type that does not match the bytes will stop the preview even though the base64 may still decode. The tool reports the detected type and decoded size so you can see whether the payload itself is intact.

Yes — paste a data URL or base64 into the box and the tool decodes it, shows the detected type and size, and renders a preview. To save it as a file, open the data URL directly in a new tab and save the image from there.