Decode Base64 data in Java

Question

I have an image that is Base64 encoded. What is the best way to decode that in Java? Hopefully using only the libraries included with Sun Java 6.

Answer 1

As an alternative to sun.misc.BASE64Decoder or non-core libraries, look at javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.decode().

public static byte[] encode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    OutputStream b64os = MimeUtility.encode(baos, "base64");
    b64os.write(b);
    b64os.close();
    return baos.toByteArray();
}
public static byte[] decode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    InputStream b64is = MimeUtility.decode(bais, "base64");
    byte[] tmp = new byte[b.length];
    int n = b64is.read(tmp);
    byte[] res = new byte[n];
    System.arraycopy(tmp, 0, res, 0, n);
    return res;
}

Link with full code: Encode/Decode to/from Base64

Answer 2

As of v6, Java SE ships with JAXB. javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter has static methods that make this easy. See parseBase64Binary() and printBase64Binary().

Answer 3

Hope this helps you:

import com.sun.org.apache.xml.internal.security.utils.Base64;
String str="Hello World";
String base64_str=Base64.encode(str.getBytes("UTF-8"));

Or:

String str="Hello World";
String base64_str="";
try
   {base64_str=(String)Class.forName("java.util.prefs.Base64").getDeclaredMethod("byteArrayToBase64", new Class[]{byte[].class}).invoke(null, new Object[]{str.getBytes("UTF-8")});
   }
catch (Exception ee) {}

java.util.prefs.Base64 works on local rt.jar,

But it is not in The JRE Class White List

and not in Available classes not listed in the GAE/J white-list

What a pity!

PS. In android, it's easy because that android.util.Base64 has been included since Android API Level 8.

Answer 4

My solution is fastest and easiest.

public class MyBase64 {

    private final static char[] ALPHABET = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/".toCharArray();

    private static int[]  toInt   = new int[128];

    static {
        for(int i=0; i< ALPHABET.length; i++){
            toInt[ALPHABET[i]]= i;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified byte array into Base64 string.
     *
     * @param buf the byte array (not null)
     * @return the translated Base64 string (not null)
     */
    public static String encode(byte[] buf){
        int size = buf.length;
        char[] ar = new char[((size + 2) / 3) * 4];
        int a = 0;
        int i=0;
        while(i < size){
            byte b0 = buf[i++];
            byte b1 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;
            byte b2 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;

            int mask = 0x3F;
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[(b0 >> 2) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b0 << 4) | ((b1 & 0xFF) >> 4)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b1 << 2) | ((b2 & 0xFF) >> 6)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[b2 & mask];
        }
        switch(size % 3){
            case 1: ar[--a]  = '=';
            case 2: ar[--a]  = '=';
        }
        return new String(ar);
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified Base64 string into a byte array.
     *
     * @param s the Base64 string (not null)
     * @return the byte array (not null)
     */
    public static byte[] decode(String s){
        int delta = s.endsWith( "==" ) ? 2 : s.endsWith( "=" ) ? 1 : 0;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[s.length()*3/4 - delta];
        int mask = 0xFF;
        int index = 0;
        for(int i=0; i< s.length(); i+=4){
            int c0 = toInt[s.charAt( i )];
            int c1 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 1)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c0 << 2) | (c1 >> 4)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c2 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 2)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c1 << 4) | (c2 >> 2)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c3 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 3 )];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c2 << 6) | c3) & mask);
        }
        return buffer;
    } 

}

Answer 5

This is a late answer, but Joshua Bloch committed his Base64 class (when he was working for Sun, ahem, Oracle) under the java.util.prefs package. This class existed since JDK 1.4.

E.g.

String currentString = "Hello World";
String base64String = java.util.prefs.Base64.byteArrayToBase64(currentString.getBytes("UTF-8"));

Answer 6

Given a test encode/decode example of javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter using methods parseBase64Binary() and printBase64Binary() referring to @jeremy-ross and @nightfirecat answer.

@Test
public void EncodeDecode() {
    //ENCODE
    String hello = "Hello World";
    byte[] helloBytes = hello.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    String encodedHello = DatatypeConverter.printBase64Binary(helloBytes);
    LOGGER.info(hello + " encoded=> " + encodedHello);

    //DECODE
    byte[] encodedHelloBytes = DatatypeConverter.parseBase64Binary(encodedHello);
    String helloAgain = new String(encodedHelloBytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8) ;
    LOGGER.info(encodedHello + " decoded=> " + helloAgain);

    Assert.assertEquals(hello, helloAgain);
}

Result:

INFO - Hello World encoded=> SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=
INFO - SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ= decoded=> Hello World