I have Base64-encoded binary data in a string:
const contentType = 'image/png';
const b64Data = 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P4//8/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==';
I would like to create a blob:
URL containing this data and display it to the user:
const blob = new Blob(????, {type: contentType});
const blobUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);
window.location = blobUrl;
I haven't been been able to figure out how to create the BLOB.
In some cases I am able to avoid this by using a data:
URL instead:
const dataUrl = `data:${contentType};base64,${b64Data}`;
window.location = dataUrl;
However, in most cases the data:
URLs are prohibitively large.
How can I decode a Base64 string to a BLOB object in JavaScript?
This question is related to
javascript
base64
The method with fetch is the best solution, but if anyone needs to use a method without fetch then here it is, as the ones mentioned previously didn't work for me:
function makeblob(dataURL) {
const BASE64_MARKER = ';base64,';
const parts = dataURL.split(BASE64_MARKER);
const contentType = parts[0].split(':')[1];
const raw = window.atob(parts[1]);
const rawLength = raw.length;
const uInt8Array = new Uint8Array(rawLength);
for (let i = 0; i < rawLength; ++i) {
uInt8Array[i] = raw.charCodeAt(i);
}
return new Blob([uInt8Array], { type: contentType });
}
See this example: https://jsfiddle.net/pqhdce2L/
function b64toBlob(b64Data, contentType, sliceSize) {_x000D_
contentType = contentType || '';_x000D_
sliceSize = sliceSize || 512;_x000D_
_x000D_
var byteCharacters = atob(b64Data);_x000D_
var byteArrays = [];_x000D_
_x000D_
for (var offset = 0; offset < byteCharacters.length; offset += sliceSize) {_x000D_
var slice = byteCharacters.slice(offset, offset + sliceSize);_x000D_
_x000D_
var byteNumbers = new Array(slice.length);_x000D_
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {_x000D_
byteNumbers[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
var byteArray = new Uint8Array(byteNumbers);_x000D_
_x000D_
byteArrays.push(byteArray);_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
var blob = new Blob(byteArrays, {type: contentType});_x000D_
return blob;_x000D_
}_x000D_
_x000D_
_x000D_
var contentType = 'image/png';_x000D_
var b64Data = Your Base64 encode;_x000D_
_x000D_
var blob = b64toBlob(b64Data, contentType);_x000D_
var blobUrl = URL.createObjectURL(blob);_x000D_
_x000D_
var img = document.createElement('img');_x000D_
img.src = blobUrl;_x000D_
document.body.appendChild(img);
_x000D_
For image data, I find it simpler to use canvas.toBlob
(asynchronous)
function b64toBlob(b64, onsuccess, onerror) {
var img = new Image();
img.onerror = onerror;
img.onload = function onload() {
var canvas = document.createElement('canvas');
canvas.width = img.width;
canvas.height = img.height;
var ctx = canvas.getContext('2d');
ctx.drawImage(img, 0, 0, canvas.width, canvas.height);
canvas.toBlob(onsuccess);
};
img.src = b64;
}
var base64Data = 'data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgABAQA...';
b64toBlob(base64Data,
function(blob) {
var url = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob);
// do something with url
}, function(error) {
// handle error
});
I'm posting a more declarative way of sync Base64 converting. While async fetch().blob()
is very neat and I like this solution a lot, it doesn't work on Internet Explorer 11 (and probably Edge - I haven't tested this one), even with the polyfill - take a look at my comment to Endless' post for more details.
const blobPdfFromBase64String = base64String => {
const byteArray = Uint8Array.from(
atob(base64String)
.split('')
.map(char => char.charCodeAt(0))
);
return new Blob([byteArray], { type: 'application/pdf' });
};
If you want to print it you could do something like:
const isIE11 = !!(window.navigator && window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob); // Or however you want to check it
const printPDF = blob => {
try {
isIE11
? window.navigator.msSaveOrOpenBlob(blob, 'documents.pdf')
: printJS(URL.createObjectURL(blob)); // http://printjs.crabbly.com/
} catch (e) {
throw PDFError;
}
};
If you're able to do some preprocessing of the Base64 string on the server you could expose it under some URL and use the link in printJS
:)
I noticed that Internet Explorer 11 gets incredibly slow when slicing the data like Jeremy suggested. This is true for Chrome, but Internet Explorer seems to have a problem when passing the sliced data to the Blob-Constructor. On my machine, passing 5 MB of data makes Internet Explorer crash and memory consumption is going through the roof. Chrome creates the blob in no time.
Run this code for a comparison:
var byteArrays = [],
megaBytes = 2,
byteArray = new Uint8Array(megaBytes*1024*1024),
block,
blobSlowOnIE, blobFastOnIE,
i;
for (i = 0; i < (megaBytes*1024); i++) {
block = new Uint8Array(1024);
byteArrays.push(block);
}
//debugger;
console.profile("No Slices");
blobSlowOnIE = new Blob(byteArrays, { type: 'text/plain'});
console.profileEnd();
console.profile("Slices");
blobFastOnIE = new Blob([byteArray], { type: 'text/plain'});
console.profileEnd();
So I decided to include both methods described by Jeremy in one function. Credits go to him for this.
function base64toBlob(base64Data, contentType, sliceSize) {
var byteCharacters,
byteArray,
byteNumbers,
blobData,
blob;
contentType = contentType || '';
byteCharacters = atob(base64Data);
// Get BLOB data sliced or not
blobData = sliceSize ? getBlobDataSliced() : getBlobDataAtOnce();
blob = new Blob(blobData, { type: contentType });
return blob;
/*
* Get BLOB data in one slice.
* => Fast in Internet Explorer on new Blob(...)
*/
function getBlobDataAtOnce() {
byteNumbers = new Array(byteCharacters.length);
for (var i = 0; i < byteCharacters.length; i++) {
byteNumbers[i] = byteCharacters.charCodeAt(i);
}
byteArray = new Uint8Array(byteNumbers);
return [byteArray];
}
/*
* Get BLOB data in multiple slices.
* => Slow in Internet Explorer on new Blob(...)
*/
function getBlobDataSliced() {
var slice,
byteArrays = [];
for (var offset = 0; offset < byteCharacters.length; offset += sliceSize) {
slice = byteCharacters.slice(offset, offset + sliceSize);
byteNumbers = new Array(slice.length);
for (var i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
byteNumbers[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
byteArray = new Uint8Array(byteNumbers);
// Add slice
byteArrays.push(byteArray);
}
return byteArrays;
}
}
Here is a more minimal method without any dependencies or libraries.
It requires the new fetch API. (Can I use it?)
var url = "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P4//8/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg=="
fetch(url)
.then(res => res.blob())
.then(console.log)
_x000D_
With this method you can also easily get a ReadableStream, ArrayBuffer, text, and JSON.
(fyi this also works with node-fetch in Node)
As a function:
const b64toBlob = (base64, type = 'application/octet-stream') =>
fetch(`data:${type};base64,${base64}`).then(res => res.blob())
I did a simple performance test towards Jeremy's ES6 sync version.
The sync version will block UI for a while.
keeping the devtool open can slow the fetch performance
document.body.innerHTML += '<input autofocus placeholder="try writing">'
// get some dummy gradient image
var img=function(){var a=document.createElement("canvas"),b=a.getContext("2d"),c=b.createLinearGradient(0,0,1500,1500);a.width=a.height=3000;c.addColorStop(0,"red");c.addColorStop(1,"blue");b.fillStyle=c;b.fillRect(0,0,a.width,a.height);return a.toDataURL()}();
async function perf() {
const blob = await fetch(img).then(res => res.blob())
// turn it to a dataURI
const url = img
const b64Data = url.split(',')[1]
// Jeremy Banks solution
const b64toBlob = (b64Data, contentType = '', sliceSize=512) => {
const byteCharacters = atob(b64Data);
const byteArrays = [];
for (let offset = 0; offset < byteCharacters.length; offset += sliceSize) {
const slice = byteCharacters.slice(offset, offset + sliceSize);
const byteNumbers = new Array(slice.length);
for (let i = 0; i < slice.length; i++) {
byteNumbers[i] = slice.charCodeAt(i);
}
const byteArray = new Uint8Array(byteNumbers);
byteArrays.push(byteArray);
}
const blob = new Blob(byteArrays, {type: contentType});
return blob;
}
// bench blocking method
let i = 500
console.time('blocking b64')
while (i--) {
await b64toBlob(b64Data)
}
console.timeEnd('blocking b64')
// bench non blocking
i = 500
// so that the function is not reconstructed each time
const toBlob = res => res.blob()
console.time('fetch')
while (i--) {
await fetch(url).then(toBlob)
}
console.timeEnd('fetch')
console.log('done')
}
perf()
_x000D_
Following is my TypeScript code which can be converted easily into JavaScript and you can use
/**
* Convert BASE64 to BLOB
* @param base64Image Pass Base64 image data to convert into the BLOB
*/
private convertBase64ToBlob(base64Image: string) {
// Split into two parts
const parts = base64Image.split(';base64,');
// Hold the content type
const imageType = parts[0].split(':')[1];
// Decode Base64 string
const decodedData = window.atob(parts[1]);
// Create UNIT8ARRAY of size same as row data length
const uInt8Array = new Uint8Array(decodedData.length);
// Insert all character code into uInt8Array
for (let i = 0; i < decodedData.length; ++i) {
uInt8Array[i] = decodedData.charCodeAt(i);
}
// Return BLOB image after conversion
return new Blob([uInt8Array], { type: imageType });
}
For all copy-paste lovers out there like me, here is a cooked download function which works on Chrome, Firefox and Edge:
window.saveFile = function (bytesBase64, mimeType, fileName) {
var fileUrl = "data:" + mimeType + ";base64," + bytesBase64;
fetch(fileUrl)
.then(response => response.blob())
.then(blob => {
var link = window.document.createElement("a");
link.href = window.URL.createObjectURL(blob, { type: mimeType });
link.download = fileName;
document.body.appendChild(link);
link.click();
document.body.removeChild(link);
});
}
For all browser support, especially on Android, perhaps you can add this:
try{
blob = new Blob(byteArrays, {type : contentType});
}
catch(e){
// TypeError old Google Chrome and Firefox
window.BlobBuilder = window.BlobBuilder ||
window.WebKitBlobBuilder ||
window.MozBlobBuilder ||
window.MSBlobBuilder;
if(e.name == 'TypeError' && window.BlobBuilder){
var bb = new BlobBuilder();
bb.append(byteArrays);
blob = bb.getBlob(contentType);
}
else if(e.name == "InvalidStateError"){
// InvalidStateError (tested on FF13 WinXP)
blob = new Blob(byteArrays, {type : contentType});
}
else{
// We're screwed, blob constructor unsupported entirely
}
}
If you can stand adding one dependency to your project there's the great blob-util
npm package that provides a handy base64StringToBlob
function. Once added to your package.json
you can use it like this:
import { base64StringToBlob } from 'blob-util';
const contentType = 'image/png';
const b64Data = 'iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAHElEQVQI12P4//8/w38GIAXDIBKE0DHxgljNBAAO9TXL0Y4OHwAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==';
const blob = base64StringToBlob(b64Data, contentType);
// Do whatever you need with your blob...
Optimized (but less readable) implementation:
function base64toBlob(base64Data, contentType) {
contentType = contentType || '';
var sliceSize = 1024;
var byteCharacters = atob(base64Data);
var bytesLength = byteCharacters.length;
var slicesCount = Math.ceil(bytesLength / sliceSize);
var byteArrays = new Array(slicesCount);
for (var sliceIndex = 0; sliceIndex < slicesCount; ++sliceIndex) {
var begin = sliceIndex * sliceSize;
var end = Math.min(begin + sliceSize, bytesLength);
var bytes = new Array(end - begin);
for (var offset = begin, i = 0; offset < end; ++i, ++offset) {
bytes[i] = byteCharacters[offset].charCodeAt(0);
}
byteArrays[sliceIndex] = new Uint8Array(bytes);
}
return new Blob(byteArrays, { type: contentType });
}
Source: Stackoverflow.com