Base32 vs Base64 Comparison: Definitions, Use Cases, Character Sets
This blog post compares Base32 and Base64, delving into their definitions, use cases, and character sets. Discover their strengths, weaknesses, and the best times to use them in your applications. Whether you’re new to data encoding or need encoding guidance, this article offers valuable insights for making informed choices.
Base32
Base32 is essentially a binary-to-text encoding method that makes it possible to represent binary data in a logically comprehensible manner. To do this, it uses a set of 32 characters. As opposed to raw binary data, which may contain odd or unprintable characters that could be problematic for storage or transmission.
The key to Base32 lies in its character set. This encoding scheme uses a specific set of 32 characters, which include uppercase letters A through Z and the digits 2 through 7. This character set was designed with careful consideration to avoid ambiguity and ensure that the encoded data can be accurately decoded.
Here are the 32 characters used in Base32:
Binary
Decimal
Base32
00000
0
A
00001
1
B
00010
2
C
00011
3
D
00100
4
E
00101
5
F
00110
6
G
00111
7
H
01000
8
I
01001
9
J
01010
10
K
01011
11
L
01100
12
M
01101
13
N
01110
14
O
01111
15
P
10000
16
Q
10001
17
R
10010
18
S
10011
19
T
10100
20
U
10101
21
V
10110
22
W
10111
23
X
11000
24
Y
11001
25
Z
11010
26
2
11011
27
3
11100
28
4
11101
29
5
11110
30
6
11111
31
7
Encoding data with Base32 is a straightforward process. You take your binary data and convert it into a series of 5-bit chunks. Each 5-bit chunk is then mapped to the corresponding character from the Base32 character set. This results in a text string that is safe for transmission and storage.
Decoding Base32 is the process of converting Base32-encoded text back into its original binary form, using the character set as a reference.
Base64
Base64 is a binary-to-text encoding scheme that represents binary data in an ASCII string format. It is commonly used to encode binary data so that it can be safely transmitted or stored as text, making it suitable for a wide range of applications, including email attachments, data transmission over text-based protocols, and storing binary data in text files such as XML and JSON.
In Base64 encoding, each group of three bytes (24 bits) of binary data is represented by four ASCII characters.
The encoding process involves the following steps:
Divide the binary data into 6-bit chunks.
Map each 6-bit chunk to its corresponding ASCII character based on a predefined mapping table.
If the binary data does not have a length that is a multiple of 3, padding characters (usually one or two equal signs, ‘=’) are added to make the output length a multiple of 4.
Base64 encoding uses a specific set of 64 characters, which typically include A-Z, a-z, 0-9, and two additional characters such as ‘+’, and ‘/’. The choice of these characters can vary slightly in different implementations, and some variations exist, such as URL-safe Base64, which uses different characters to avoid conflicts with URLs.
Here is the comprehensive Base64 character table:
Character
Binary
Decimal
A
000000
0
B
000001
1
C
000010
2
D
000011
3
E
000100
4
F
000101
5
G
000110
6
H
000111
7
I
001000
8
J
001001
9
K
001010
10
L
001011
11
M
001100
12
N
001101
13
O
001110
14
P
001111
15
Q
010000
16
R
010001
17
S
010010
18
T
010011
19
U
010100
20
V
010101
21
W
010110
22
X
010111
23
Y
011000
24
Z
011001
25
a
011010
26
b
011011
27
c
011100
28
d
011101
29
e
011110
30
f
011111
31
g
100000
32
h
100001
33
i
100010
34
j
100011
35
k
100100
36
l
100101
37
m
100110
38
n
100111
39
o
101000
40
p
101001
41
q
101010
42
r
101011
43
s
101100
44
t
101101
45
u
101110
46
v
101111
47
w
110000
48
x
110001
49
y
110010
50
z
110011
51
0
110100
52
1
110101
53
2
110110
54
3
110111
55
4
111000
56
5
111001
57
6
111010
58
7
111011
59
8
111100
60
9
111101
61
+
111110
62
/
111111
63
Comparison
Base32 and Base64 are both encoding schemes used to represent binary data in a human-readable format. Base64 is more commonly used, while Base32 is often used in specific applications, such as URLs, where certain characters have special meanings or restrictions. The choice between them depends on the specific requirements of your application.
The table below compares Base32 and Base64 in the most important aspects.
Base32
Base64
Character Set
A-Z, 2-7
A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /
Number of Characters
32
64
Padding Character
=
=
Encoding Algorithm
Groups data into 5-bit chunks
Groups data into 6-bit chunks
Common Use Cases
Used in file and folder names in URL paths, geocaching, and some cryptographic applications
Commonly used for encoding binary data in email attachments, JSON, and other data transmission formats
