Image to Base64

The Image to Base64 converter is a base64 encoder for images that encodes any picture into a Base64 string right in your browser. Choose plain Base64, a complete data URL, an HTML `<img>` tag or a CSS background rule — whichever format your project needs — and copy it straight into your code.

Base64-embedded images are the standard trick for small icons and logos in HTML emails (where external images often get blocked), single-file web pages, JSON API payloads, and CSS sprites, because embedding the image inline removes a separate HTTP request entirely. This data url generator shows the original file size next to the encoded size, so you can judge the trade-off before committing to embedding — the tool doesn't hide the cost, it just makes paying it easy.

Encoding happens with the browser's FileReader API reading the file directly off your device — the image is never uploaded to any server, which matters if you're embedding something sensitive like an internal diagram or an unpublished logo. The tool also handles PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP and SVG source files, covering essentially every image type used on the web today.

The main thing to weigh before you embed an image: Base64 encoding always adds roughly 33% to the file size, because every 3 bytes of binary data becomes 4 text characters. That overhead is a good trade for a tiny 2 KB icon saving a round-trip request, but it's a bad one for a 200 KB photo — for larger images, a normal image file with proper HTTP caching will almost always load faster than the inflated inline string.

This also makes a handy quick-inspection tool on its own: paste any image into the converter just to see its exact byte size, confirm its dimensions decode correctly, or grab a disposable data URL for a one-off test in a codepen or bug report without touching a file host.