Base32 Encoder & Decoder

Base32 is a binary-to-text encoding that represents data with 32 ASCII characters. The encoder reads your UTF-8 text as bytes, groups the bits in sets of five, and maps each group to one character. Five input bytes become eight Base32 characters; if the last group is incomplete, the RFC 4648 formats use = padding.

To encode, enter plain text, choose the matching variant and copy the resulting Base32 string. To decode Base32 to text, paste the encoded string, select the variant used to create it and switch the tool to decoding. The decoder accepts upper- or lowercase input and ignores spaces, hyphens and padding.

Base32 is useful where text must be easy to read or type: TOTP/2FA secret keys, DNS labels, file names and manually exchanged identifiers are common examples. It is an encoding format, not encryption, so a Base32 string should never be treated as secret merely because it is not immediately readable.

This Base32 encoder and decoder offers three compatible-but-distinct alphabets. Select the same variant for decoding that was used for encoding.

• RFC 4648 (standard): A–Z and 2–7, with = padding. This is the usual choice for a standard Base32 string and many TOTP secrets.
• base32hex: 0–9 and A–V, with = padding. It is the RFC 4648 Extended Hex alphabet.
• Crockford: 0–9 and letters excluding I, L, O and U, without padding. It is designed for human transcription; this decoder also reads O as 0 and I/L as 1.

These variants do not produce the same text representation for the same input. If a Base32 string will not decode, first check that its alphabet and padding convention match the selected variant.