Image to Base64 Converter

A data URL is a string that carries an entire file inline instead of pointing to a separate resource. For images it follows the form data:[mediatype];base64,[encoded-bytes] — for example data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0K... The browser reads the file you select with the FileReader.readAsDataURL method, which detects the MIME type from the file and Base64-encodes the raw bytes. Base64 represents binary data using 64 printable ASCII characters, packing every 3 bytes into 4 characters, which is why an encoded image is about 33% larger than the original plus a few bytes of padding (the = signs at the end). Embedding an image this way removes one HTTP request, which can help for tiny, frequently used assets like icons or 1x1 spacers. The downsides are real: the inflated bytes cannot be cached separately, they bloat your HTML or CSS, and large data URLs hurt parse and paint time. As a rule of thumb, inline only small assets and keep large or shared images as normal files. This tool simply mirrors whatever the browser produces — it does not resize, recompress, or optimize the image first.