Base32 / Base58

The Base32 / Base58 tool encodes and decodes data in two other base encodings. Base32 uses a single uppercase alphabet without padding, which makes it easy to read and safe in systems that are case insensitive; Base58 drops the easily confused characters such as zero, O, I, and l, which is why it is the encoding behind Bitcoin addresses. Use it when you need to represent binary data as a human or machine friendly string in a particular format. The tool runs entirely in your browser, so the data you encode or decode is never sent anywhere. Base64 is the best known alphabet for representing binary as text, but it is not always the right one. Base32 uses an uppercase alphabet and is case insensitive, which makes it a better fit when a value will pass through a system that normalises case, such as a domain name, a file system that folds case, or a human transcription step. Base58 takes the opposite approach and removes the characters that people confuse when reading and typing, namely zero and capital O, capital I and lowercase l, along with both signs that could be misread, which is exactly why it became the standard representation for Bitcoin addresses and other values meant to be copied by hand. Neither adds or removes information, so the round trip is lossless and the choice is purely about the environment that will carry the string. When you are debugging an integration it helps to confirm which alphabet a value uses, because an address that looks wrong is often a Base58 string confused with a Base64 one, and the tool lets you test both directions to settle the question.

📘 Related guide: Obfuscate text with a Caesar or ROT13 shift →