Base64 vs Hex vs URL Encoding: When to Use Which

Base64 encodes binary data using 64 ASCII characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9, +, /, =). Output is ~33% larger than input. Use for: embedding images in HTML/CSS, transmitting binary in JSON, encoding auth tokens. Hex (base16) uses 0-9 and a-f. Output is 100% larger (each byte becomes 2 chars). Use for: hash digests, color codes, raw byte dumps. URL encoding (percent-encoding) replaces unsafe characters with %XX. Output is ~3x larger for non-ASCII text. Use for: query strings, form data, anything in a URL. Our Base64 Encoder, URL Encoder and ASCII Converter handle all three.