How to Encode and Decode Strings with Base64 in Node.js

In this tutorial, we are going to learn about encoding and decoding strings with base64 format in Node.js.

Buffer Object

In Node.js, we can use the Buffer object to encode a string to base64 or decode a base64 encoding to a string.

The Buffer object is available in Global scope, so there is no need to use require('buffer') function.

Encoding a string to base64

const buff = Buffer.from("hi readers", "utf8");

const base64 = buff.toString("base64");

console.log(base64); // aGkgcmVhZGVycw==

• In line one, we converted a string to buffer object (that is a binary representation of string).

• In line two, we converted a buffer to base64 encoding.

Decoding a base64 to a string

Similarly, we can decode a base64 encoding to a string like this.

const buff = Buffer.from("aGkgcmVhZGVycw==", "base64");

const str = buff.toString("utf8");

console.log(str); // hi readers