Encode plain text to Base32 or decode Base32 strings back to text. Runs entirely in your browser — nothing is sent to any server.
Base32 uses the alphabet A–Z and 2–7 (RFC 4648). Common uses: TOTP/2FA secret keys, .onion addresses, IPFS CIDs.
Base32 is an encoding scheme that represents binary data using 32 printable ASCII characters: A–Z and 2–7. It is case-insensitive and avoids visually confusing characters like 0, 1, 8, and 9. Base32 is defined in RFC 4648.
Base32 is widely used in TOTP (Time-based One-Time Password) secret keys for two-factor authentication apps like Google Authenticator. It is also used in Tor .onion addresses, IPFS content identifiers, and DNS-safe encoding because it is case-insensitive and contains no special characters.
Base64 uses 64 characters (A–Z, a–z, 0–9, +, /) and is case-sensitive, producing shorter output. Base32 uses only 32 characters (A–Z, 2–7), is case-insensitive, and produces about 60% longer output than Base64. Base32 is preferred when human readability, DNS safety, or case-insensitivity is required.
Yes. Base32 encoding increases data size by approximately 60% (compared to 33% for Base64). Each 5 bytes of input becomes 8 Base32 characters. Padding '=' characters are added to make the output length a multiple of 8.
No. Standard Base32 (RFC 4648) uses the alphabet A–Z and 2–7. Base32Hex uses 0–9 and A–V, which preserves sort order of the original data. This tool uses standard Base32 (RFC 4648).