Base64

What is Base64?

The Base64 npm package provides utilities for encoding and decoding data in Base64 format. This is useful for data transmission, storage, and processing where binary data needs to be represented in an ASCII string format.

What are Base64's main functionalities?

Encoding

This feature allows you to encode a string into Base64 format. The example encodes the string 'Hello, World!' into its Base64 representation.

const base64 = require('base64');
const encoded = base64.encode('Hello, World!');
console.log(encoded); // Outputs: 'SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ=='

Decoding

This feature allows you to decode a Base64 encoded string back into its original format. The example decodes the Base64 string 'SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==' back to 'Hello, World!'.

const base64 = require('base64');
const decoded = base64.decode('SGVsbG8sIFdvcmxkIQ==');
console.log(decoded); // Outputs: 'Hello, World!'

Other packages similar to Base64

js-base64

The js-base64 package provides similar functionality for encoding and decoding Base64 strings. It is a well-maintained and widely used package with a simple API. Compared to Base64, js-base64 offers additional methods for URL-safe encoding and decoding.

base-64

The base-64 package is another alternative for Base64 encoding and decoding. It is lightweight and has no dependencies, making it a good choice for projects where minimizing bundle size is important. It offers similar functionality to the Base64 package but with a slightly different API.

buffer

The buffer package is part of the Node.js core library and provides a way to handle binary data directly. It includes methods for Base64 encoding and decoding. While it offers more comprehensive functionality for binary data manipulation, it can be more complex to use compared to the Base64 package.

README

Base64.js

≈ 500 byte* polyfill for browsers which don't provide window.btoa and window.atob.

Although the script does no harm in browsers which do provide these functions, a conditional script loader such as yepnope can prevent unnecessary HTTP requests.

yepnope({
  test: window.btoa && window.atob,
  nope: 'base64.js',
  callback: function () {
    // `btoa` and `atob` are now safe to use
  }
})

Base64.js stems from a gist by yahiko.

Running the test suite

make setup
make test

* Minified and gzipped. Run make bytes to verify.