Image to Base64

What Does This Tool Output?

The raw Base64-encoded bytes of your image file - just the encoded data, without the data:image/...;base64, prefix a full data URI would include (useful when an API or config expects the raw encoded value).

Why Use This Tool?

Some APIs, config files, or embedded-resource formats want the raw Base64 string rather than a full data URI - this tool gives you exactly that, computed entirely client-side.

How to Use It

1. Upload or drag an image file.
2. The Base64-encoded output appears automatically.
3. Copy it for use wherever raw Base64 is expected.

Important Notes

Your image is processed entirely in your browser using the File API - it is never uploaded to any server, which matters for anything containing sensitive or private image content.

Example

A tiny PNG icon produces a string that starts like this:

iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAABAAAAAQCAYAAAAf8/9hAAAA...

Every PNG's Base64 starts with iVBORw0KGgo, JPEGs with /9j/ and GIFs with R0lGOD - an easy way to recognise the format of an unknown string.

Where Raw Base64 Is Needed

• JSON APIs that accept images as a string field, such as OCR, AI vision or image-hosting APIs.
• Email and document generators that embed images inline.
• Configuration files for apps, bots or mobile builds that store small icons as text.

When Not to Use Base64

Base64 makes files about 33% larger and cannot be cached separately from the page or JSON that contains it. For images on a website, a normal image file is almost always better. Embedding only makes sense for very small images, one-off transfers, or when a separate file is not possible.

Need a full data: URI for HTML or CSS? Add the prefix, e.g. data:image/png;base64,, or use the SVG to Data URI tool for SVGs. Decode a string back to an image with Base64 to Image, and learn more in what is Base64 encoding.