Base64URL Encoder
Runs in your browserThe URL-safe variant every JWT segment uses. Encode text or decode a segment, with UTF-8 handled properly.
Text
How this one works
Base64URL is standard Base64 with + and / swapped for - and _, and the trailing = padding removed, so the result can sit in a URL or a JWT without escaping.
Text is converted to UTF-8 bytes before encoding, so accents, emoji and non-Latin scripts round-trip correctly. Decoding also accepts standard Base64 and padding.
Questions
- Is Base64URL encryption?
- No — it’s an encoding, reversible by anyone. That’s why a JWT’s payload is readable without a key; only the signature protects it from being changed.
- Why does decoding say the result is binary?
- Some Base64URL strings hold raw bytes rather than text, such as a JWT signature. Those can’t be shown as characters, so the bytes are shown as hex instead.
- What’s the difference from regular Base64?
- Two characters and the padding. Regular Base64 uses + and / and pads with =, all of which have special meaning in URLs. Base64URL avoids them.