How do I encode and decode a base64 string?

Question

1. How do I return a base64 encoded string given a string?

2. How do I decode a base64 encoded string into a string?

Answer 1

You can use below routine to convert string to base64 format

public static string ToBase64(string s)
{
    byte[] buffer = System.Text.Encoding.Unicode.GetBytes(s);
    return System.Convert.ToBase64String(buffer);
}

Also you can use very good online tool OnlineUtility.in to encode string in base64 format

Answer 2

A slight variation on andrew.fox answer, as the string to decode might not be a correct base64 encoded string:

using System;

namespace Service.Support
{
    public static class Base64
    {
        public static string ToBase64(this System.Text.Encoding encoding, string text)
        {
            if (text == null)
            {
                return null;
            }

            byte[] textAsBytes = encoding.GetBytes(text);
            return Convert.ToBase64String(textAsBytes);
        }

        public static bool TryParseBase64(this System.Text.Encoding encoding, string encodedText, out string decodedText)
        {
            if (encodedText == null)
            {
                decodedText = null;
                return false;
            }

            try
            {
                byte[] textAsBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(encodedText);
                decodedText = encoding.GetString(textAsBytes);
                return true;
            }
            catch (Exception)
            {
                decodedText = null;
                return false;   
            }
        }
    }
}

Answer 3

Based on the answers by Andrew Fox and Cebe, I turned it around and made them string extensions instead of Base64String extensions.

public static class StringExtensions
{
    public static string ToBase64(this string text)
    {
        return ToBase64(text, Encoding.UTF8);
    }

    public static string ToBase64(this string text, Encoding encoding)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
        {
            return text;
        }

        byte[] textAsBytes = encoding.GetBytes(text);
        return Convert.ToBase64String(textAsBytes);
    }

    public static bool TryParseBase64(this string text, out string decodedText)
    {
        return TryParseBase64(text, Encoding.UTF8, out decodedText);
    }

    public static bool TryParseBase64(this string text, Encoding encoding, out string decodedText)
    {
        if (string.IsNullOrEmpty(text))
        {
            decodedText = text;
            return false;
        }

        try
        {
            byte[] textAsBytes = Convert.FromBase64String(text);
            decodedText = encoding.GetString(textAsBytes);
            return true;
        }
        catch (Exception)
        {
            decodedText = null;
            return false;
        }
    }
}

Answer 4

    using System;
    using System.Text;

    public static class Base64Conversions
    {
        public static string EncodeBase64(this string text, Encoding encoding = null)
        { 
            if (text == null) return null;

            encoding = encoding ?? Encoding.UTF8;
            var bytes = encoding.GetBytes(text);
            return Convert.ToBase64String(bytes);
        }

        public static string DecodeBase64(this string encodedText, Encoding encoding = null)
        {
            if (encodedText == null) return null;

            encoding = encoding ?? Encoding.UTF8;
            var bytes = Convert.FromBase64String(encodedText);
            return encoding.GetString(bytes);
        }
    }

Usage

    var text = "Sample Text";
    var base64 = text.EncodeBase64();
    base64 = text.EncodeBase64(Encoding.UTF8); //or with Encoding

Answer 5

For those that simply want to encode/decode individual base64 digits:

public static int DecodeBase64Digit(char digit, string digit62 = "+-.~", string digit63 = "/_,")
{
    if (digit >= 'A' && digit <= 'Z') return digit - 'A';
    if (digit >= 'a' && digit <= 'z') return digit + (26 - 'a');
    if (digit >= '0' && digit <= '9') return digit + (52 - '0');
    if (digit62.IndexOf(digit) > -1)  return 62;
    if (digit63.IndexOf(digit) > -1)  return 63;
    return -1;
}

public static char EncodeBase64Digit(int digit, char digit62 = '+', char digit63 = '/')
{
    digit &= 63;
    if (digit < 52)
        return (char)(digit < 26 ? digit + 'A' : digit + ('a' - 26));
    else if (digit < 62)
        return (char)(digit + ('0' - 52));
    else
        return digit == 62 ? digit62 : digit63;
}

There are various versions of Base64 that disagree about what to use for digits 62 and 63, so DecodeBase64Digit can tolerate several of these.

Answer 6

URL safe Base64 Encoding/Decoding

public static class Base64Url
{
    public static string Encode(string text)
    {
        return Convert.ToBase64String(Encoding.UTF8.GetBytes(text)).TrimEnd('=').Replace('+', '-')
            .Replace('/', '_');
    }

    public static string Decode(string text)
    {
        text = text.Replace('_', '/').Replace('-', '+');
        switch (text.Length % 4)
        {
            case 2:
                text += "==";
                break;
            case 3:
                text += "=";
                break;
        }
        return Encoding.UTF8.GetString(Convert.FromBase64String(text));
    }
}