Convert Image to Base64 Online for Free
Base64 encoding turns binary image data into a plain text string, which is exactly what you need to embed a small image directly inside HTML, CSS, or JSON — as a data URI — without a separate file request. This is a developer-facing utility, not a photo editor: drop in an image and get back a ready-to-copy base64 string, nothing more.
JPG, PNG, WebP, HEIC, SVG · processed entirely on your device
Convert Image to Base64 Online for Free
Base64 encoding turns binary image data into a plain text string, which is exactly what you need to embed a small image directly inside HTML, CSS, or JSON — as a data URI — without a separate file request. This is a developer-facing utility, not a photo editor: drop in an image and get back a ready-to-copy base64 string, nothing more.
Drop a single image into the upload area and the tool reads it using your browser's built-in FileReader API, producing a complete data URI in the form `data:[mime-type];base64,[encoded data]` — the exact format browsers and CSS expect for inline images. The result appears in a text box with a one-click copy button, so you can paste it straight into a `src` attribute, a CSS `background-image: url(...)`, or a JSON payload without any manual formatting.
Base64-encoded images are roughly 33% larger than the original binary file, since encoding data as text always adds overhead — this is a fundamental property of base64, not something specific to this tool. It's a good trade-off for small icons, tiny logos, or images that need to be embedded inline for a single HTTP request, but it's rarely worth it for larger photos, where a normal linked image file will almost always load faster and cache better.
Everything happens locally in your browser using the standard FileReader API — your image is read directly off your device and encoded in memory, with nothing uploaded to a server at any point.
Common questions
A complete data URI: `data:[mime-type];base64,[encoded data]` — for example `data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo...`. This is the exact format expected by an HTML `src` attribute or a CSS `url()` value, so you can paste it in directly.
Base64 encoding represents binary data using only text characters, which adds roughly 33% overhead compared to the original file size. This is inherent to how base64 works, not a sign of anything going wrong.
Base64 is useful for small icons or logos where you want to avoid a separate HTTP request, or when embedding an image inside JSON or a single-file HTML document. For larger photos, a normal linked image file is almost always faster to load and better cached by the browser.
This tool processes one image at a time, since the output is a text string you copy per image rather than a downloadable batch. For multiple images, run each through the tool separately.
No — the encoding happens entirely in your browser using the built-in FileReader API. Your image is never sent to a server.