base64

The base64 library encodes and decodes data using standard Base64, with Python-compatible function names. Inputs may be a bytes value or a string (UTF-8 encoded); decoding always returns a bytes value, so call .decode() on the result if you need a string.

Available Functions

Functions

b64encode(s)

Encodes a value to standard Base64.

Parameters:

• s (bytes or str): Value to encode. Strings are encoded as UTF-8 first.

Returns: str: the Base64-encoded result.

import base64

encoded = base64.b64encode("hello world")
print(encoded)  # "aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ="

# Bytes input is also accepted
encoded = base64.b64encode(bytes("hello world"))

b64decode(s)

Decodes a standard Base64 string.

Parameters:

• s (str): Base64-encoded string to decode.

Returns: bytes: the decoded binary data. Call .decode() to convert to a string when the underlying data is text.

Raises: Error: if s is not valid Base64.

import base64

decoded = base64.b64decode("aGVsbG8gd29ybGQ=")
print(decoded.decode())  # "hello world"

See Also

• hashlib: cryptographic hash functions.
• hmac: message authentication codes.
• bytes: the binary type returned by b64decode().