𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟲𝟰 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝘁

𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝟲𝟰 𝗘𝗻𝗰𝗼𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: 𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗜𝘁

Base64 turns binary data into ASCII text. Many developers use it wrong. Here is how you use it right.

Every 3 bytes of data become 4 characters. This adds 33% to the file size. You must justify this cost.

Use Base64 for these tasks:

• Small icons in HTML. This saves a network request.
• JWT tokens.
• HTTP Basic Auth.
• Email attachments.

Avoid Base64 for these tasks:

• Large files. Use external files for anything over 5 KB. Large strings slow down your page.
• Security. Base64 is not encryption. Anyone decodes it in one second.
• Hiding keys. API keys and passwords stay plain text. Use environment variables instead.

Quick code tips:

• Browser JS: use btoa() to encode and atob() to decode.
• Node.js: use Buffer.from().
• Python: use the base64 library.
• Linux: use the base64 command.

Use a browser tool for quick tests. It is the fastest way.

Source: https://dev.to/snappy_tools/base64-encoding-what-it-is-when-to-use-it-and-when-not-to-3jcm