[java] Decode Base64 data in Java

I have an image that is Base64 encoded. What is the best way to decode that in Java? Hopefully using only the libraries included with Sun Java 6.

This question is related to java base64

The answer is


In a code compiled with Java 7 but potentially running in a higher java version, it seems useful to detect presence of java.util.Base64 class and use the approach best for given JVM mentioned in other questions here.

I used this code:

private static final Method JAVA_UTIL_BASE64_GETENCODER;

static {
    Method getEncoderMethod;
    try {
        final Class<?> base64Class = Class.forName("java.util.Base64");
        getEncoderMethod = base64Class.getMethod("getEncoder");
    } catch (ClassNotFoundException | NoSuchMethodException e) {
        getEncoderMethod = null;
    }
    JAVA_UTIL_BASE64_GETENCODER = getEncoderMethod;
}

static String base64EncodeToString(String s) {
    final byte[] bytes = s.getBytes(StandardCharsets.ISO_8859_1);
    if (JAVA_UTIL_BASE64_GETENCODER == null) {
        // Java 7 and older // TODO: remove this branch after switching to Java 8
        return DatatypeConverter.printBase64Binary(bytes);
    } else {
        // Java 8 and newer
        try {
            final Object encoder = JAVA_UTIL_BASE64_GETENCODER.invoke(null);
            final Class<?> encoderClass = encoder.getClass();
            final Method encodeMethod = encoderClass.getMethod("encode", byte[].class);
            final byte[] encodedBytes = (byte[]) encodeMethod.invoke(encoder, bytes);
            return new String(encodedBytes);
        } catch (NoSuchMethodException | IllegalAccessException | InvocationTargetException e) {
            throw new IllegalStateException(e);
        }
    }
}

Specifically in Commons Codec: class Base64 to decode(byte[] array) or encode(byte[] array)


As an alternative to sun.misc.BASE64Decoder or non-core libraries, look at javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.decode().

public static byte[] encode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    OutputStream b64os = MimeUtility.encode(baos, "base64");
    b64os.write(b);
    b64os.close();
    return baos.toByteArray();
}
public static byte[] decode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    InputStream b64is = MimeUtility.decode(bais, "base64");
    byte[] tmp = new byte[b.length];
    int n = b64is.read(tmp);
    byte[] res = new byte[n];
    System.arraycopy(tmp, 0, res, 0, n);
    return res;
}

Link with full code: Encode/Decode to/from Base64


My solution is fastest and easiest.

public class MyBase64 {

    private final static char[] ALPHABET = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/".toCharArray();

    private static int[]  toInt   = new int[128];

    static {
        for(int i=0; i< ALPHABET.length; i++){
            toInt[ALPHABET[i]]= i;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified byte array into Base64 string.
     *
     * @param buf the byte array (not null)
     * @return the translated Base64 string (not null)
     */
    public static String encode(byte[] buf){
        int size = buf.length;
        char[] ar = new char[((size + 2) / 3) * 4];
        int a = 0;
        int i=0;
        while(i < size){
            byte b0 = buf[i++];
            byte b1 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;
            byte b2 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;

            int mask = 0x3F;
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[(b0 >> 2) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b0 << 4) | ((b1 & 0xFF) >> 4)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b1 << 2) | ((b2 & 0xFF) >> 6)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[b2 & mask];
        }
        switch(size % 3){
            case 1: ar[--a]  = '=';
            case 2: ar[--a]  = '=';
        }
        return new String(ar);
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified Base64 string into a byte array.
     *
     * @param s the Base64 string (not null)
     * @return the byte array (not null)
     */
    public static byte[] decode(String s){
        int delta = s.endsWith( "==" ) ? 2 : s.endsWith( "=" ) ? 1 : 0;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[s.length()*3/4 - delta];
        int mask = 0xFF;
        int index = 0;
        for(int i=0; i< s.length(); i+=4){
            int c0 = toInt[s.charAt( i )];
            int c1 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 1)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c0 << 2) | (c1 >> 4)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c2 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 2)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c1 << 4) | (c2 >> 2)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c3 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 3 )];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c2 << 6) | c3) & mask);
        }
        return buffer;
    } 

}

You can write or download file from encoded Base64 string:

Base64 base64 = new Base64(); 
String encodedFile="JVBERi0xLjUKJeLjz9MKMSAwIG9iago8PCAKICAgL1R5cGUgL0NhdGFsb2cKICAgL1BhZ2VzIDIgMCBSCiAgIC9QYWdlTGF5b3V0IC9TaW5"; 
              byte[] dd=encodedFile.getBytes();
            byte[] bytes = Base64.decodeBase64(dd);

 response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\""+filename+"\"");
            response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
            response.setHeader("Expires", "-1");

            // actually send result bytes
            response.getOutputStream().write(bytes);

Worked for me and hopefully for you also...


My solution is fastest and easiest.

public class MyBase64 {

    private final static char[] ALPHABET = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/".toCharArray();

    private static int[]  toInt   = new int[128];

    static {
        for(int i=0; i< ALPHABET.length; i++){
            toInt[ALPHABET[i]]= i;
        }
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified byte array into Base64 string.
     *
     * @param buf the byte array (not null)
     * @return the translated Base64 string (not null)
     */
    public static String encode(byte[] buf){
        int size = buf.length;
        char[] ar = new char[((size + 2) / 3) * 4];
        int a = 0;
        int i=0;
        while(i < size){
            byte b0 = buf[i++];
            byte b1 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;
            byte b2 = (i < size) ? buf[i++] : 0;

            int mask = 0x3F;
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[(b0 >> 2) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b0 << 4) | ((b1 & 0xFF) >> 4)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[((b1 << 2) | ((b2 & 0xFF) >> 6)) & mask];
            ar[a++] = ALPHABET[b2 & mask];
        }
        switch(size % 3){
            case 1: ar[--a]  = '=';
            case 2: ar[--a]  = '=';
        }
        return new String(ar);
    }

    /**
     * Translates the specified Base64 string into a byte array.
     *
     * @param s the Base64 string (not null)
     * @return the byte array (not null)
     */
    public static byte[] decode(String s){
        int delta = s.endsWith( "==" ) ? 2 : s.endsWith( "=" ) ? 1 : 0;
        byte[] buffer = new byte[s.length()*3/4 - delta];
        int mask = 0xFF;
        int index = 0;
        for(int i=0; i< s.length(); i+=4){
            int c0 = toInt[s.charAt( i )];
            int c1 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 1)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c0 << 2) | (c1 >> 4)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c2 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 2)];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c1 << 4) | (c2 >> 2)) & mask);
            if(index >= buffer.length){
                return buffer;
            }
            int c3 = toInt[s.charAt( i + 3 )];
            buffer[index++]= (byte)(((c2 << 6) | c3) & mask);
        }
        return buffer;
    } 

}

Another late answer, but my benchmarking shows that Jetty's implementation of Base64 encoder is pretty fast. Not as fast as MiGBase64 but faster than iHarder Base64.

import org.eclipse.jetty.util.B64Code;

final String decoded = B64Code.decode(encoded, "UTF-8");

I also did some benchmarks:

      library     |    encode    |    decode   
------------------+--------------+-------------
 'MiGBase64'      |  10146001.00 |  6426446.00
 'Jetty B64Code'  |   8846191.00 |  3101361.75
 'iHarder Base64' |   3259590.50 |  2505280.00
 'Commons-Codec'  |    241318.04 |   255179.96

These are runs/sec so higher is better.


The Java 8 implementation of java.util.Base64 has no dependencies on other Java 8 specific classes.

I am not certain if this will work for Java 6 project, but it is possible to copy and paste the Base64.java file into a Java 7 project and compile it with no modification other than importing java.util.Arrays and java.util.Objects.

Note the Base64.java file is covered by the GNU GPL2


As of Java 8, there is an officially supported API for Base64 encoding and decoding. In time this will probably become the default choice.

The API includes the class java.util.Base64 and its nested classes. It supports three different flavors: basic, URL safe, and MIME.

Sample code using the "basic" encoding:

import java.util.Base64;

byte[] bytes = "Hello, World!".getBytes("UTF-8");
String encoded = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(bytes);
byte[] decoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(encoded);

The documentation for java.util.Base64 includes several more methods for configuring encoders and decoders, and for using different classes as inputs and outputs (byte arrays, strings, ByteBuffers, java.io streams).


If You are prefering performance based solution then you can use "MiGBase64"

http://migbase64.sourceforge.net/

public class Base64Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
    String encodeToString = Base64.encodeToString("JavaTips.net".getBytes(), true);
    System.out.println("encodeToString " + encodeToString);
    byte[] decodedBytes = Base64.decode(encodeToString.getBytes());
    System.out.println("decodedBytes " + new String(decodedBytes));
    }
}

I used android.util.base64 that works pretty good without any dependances:

Usage:

byte[] decodedKey = Base64.decode(encodedPublicKey, Base64.DEFAULT);

package com.test;

import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

/**
 * Utilities for encoding and decoding the Base64 representation of
 * binary data.  See RFCs <a
 * href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt">2045</a> and <a
 * href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3548.txt">3548</a>.
 */
public class Base64 {

    public static final int DEFAULT = 0;


    public static final int NO_PADDING = 1;


    public static final int NO_WRAP = 2;


    public static final int CRLF = 4;


    public static final int URL_SAFE = 8;


    public static final int NO_CLOSE = 16;

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  shared code
    //  --------------------------------------------------------

    /* package */ static abstract class Coder {
        public byte[] output;
        public int op;

        public abstract boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish);


        public abstract int maxOutputSize(int len);
    }

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  decoding
    //  --------------------------------------------------------


    public static byte[] decode(String str, int flags) {
        return decode(str.getBytes(), flags);
    }

    public static byte[] decode(byte[] input, int flags) {
        return decode(input, 0, input.length, flags);
    }


    public static byte[] decode(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        // Allocate space for the most data the input could represent.
        // (It could contain less if it contains whitespace, etc.)
        Decoder decoder = new Decoder(flags, new byte[len*3/4]);

        if (!decoder.process(input, offset, len, true)) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad base-64");
        }

        // Maybe we got lucky and allocated exactly enough output space.
        if (decoder.op == decoder.output.length) {
            return decoder.output;
        }

        // Need to shorten the array, so allocate a new one of the
        // right size and copy.
        byte[] temp = new byte[decoder.op];
        System.arraycopy(decoder.output, 0, temp, 0, decoder.op);
        return temp;
    }

   static class Decoder extends Coder {       
        private static final int DECODE[] = {
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 62, -1, -1, -1, 63,
            52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -1, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1,
            -1,  0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
            15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
            41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
        };

        /**
         * Decode lookup table for the "web safe" variant (RFC 3548
         * sec. 4) where - and _ replace + and /.
         */
        private static final int DECODE_WEBSAFE[] = {
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 62, -1, -1,
            52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -1, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1,
            -1,  0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
            15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -1, -1, -1, -1, 63,
            -1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
            41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
        };

        /** Non-data values in the DECODE arrays. */
        private static final int SKIP = -1;
        private static final int EQUALS = -2;


        private int state;   // state number (0 to 6)
        private int value;

        final private int[] alphabet;

        public Decoder(int flags, byte[] output) {
            this.output = output;

            alphabet = ((flags & URL_SAFE) == 0) ? DECODE : DECODE_WEBSAFE;
            state = 0;
            value = 0;
        }


        public int maxOutputSize(int len) {
            return len * 3/4 + 10;
        }

        /**
         * Decode another block of input data.
         *
         * @return true if the state machine is still healthy.  false if
         *         bad base-64 data has been detected in the input stream.
         */
        public boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish) {
            if (this.state == 6) return false;

            int p = offset;
            len += offset;

            int state = this.state;
            int value = this.value;
            int op = 0;
            final byte[] output = this.output;
            final int[] alphabet = this.alphabet;

            while (p < len) {                
                if (state == 0) {
                    while (p+4 <= len &&
                           (value = ((alphabet[input[p] & 0xff] << 18) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+1] & 0xff] << 12) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+2] & 0xff] << 6) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+3] & 0xff]))) >= 0) {
                        output[op+2] = (byte) value;
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 8);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 16);
                        op += 3;
                        p += 4;
                    }
                    if (p >= len) break;
                }

                int d = alphabet[input[p++] & 0xff];

                switch (state) {
                case 0:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 1:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 2:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d == EQUALS) {
                        // Emit the last (partial) output tuple;
                        // expect exactly one more padding character.
                        output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 4);
                        state = 4;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 3:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        // Emit the output triple and return to state 0.
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        output[op+2] = (byte) value;
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 8);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 16);
                        op += 3;
                        state = 0;
                    } else if (d == EQUALS) {
                        // Emit the last (partial) output tuple;
                        // expect no further data or padding characters.
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 2);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 10);
                        op += 2;
                        state = 5;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 4:
                    if (d == EQUALS) {
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 5:
                    if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;
                }
            }

            if (!finish) {
                // We're out of input, but a future call could provide
                // more.
                this.state = state;
                this.value = value;
                this.op = op;
                return true;
            }


            switch (state) {
            case 0:
                break;
            case 1:
                this.state = 6;
                return false;
            case 2:
                output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 4);
                break;
            case 3:
               output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 10);
                output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 2);
                break;
            case 4:
                this.state = 6;
                return false;
            case 5:
                break;
            }

            this.state = state;
            this.op = op;
            return true;
        }
    }

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  encoding
    //  --------------------------------------------------------    
    public static String encodeToString(byte[] input, int flags) {
        try {
            return new String(encode(input, flags), "US-ASCII");
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            // US-ASCII is guaranteed to be available.
            throw new AssertionError(e);
        }
    }


    public static String encodeToString(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        try {
            return new String(encode(input, offset, len, flags), "US-ASCII");
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            // US-ASCII is guaranteed to be available.
            throw new AssertionError(e);
        }
    }


    public static byte[] encode(byte[] input, int flags) {
        return encode(input, 0, input.length, flags);
    }


    public static byte[] encode(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        Encoder encoder = new Encoder(flags, null);

        // Compute the exact length of the array we will produce.
        int output_len = len / 3 * 4;

        // Account for the tail of the data and the padding bytes, if any.
        if (encoder.do_padding) {
            if (len % 3 > 0) {
                output_len += 4;
            }
        } else {
            switch (len % 3) {
                case 0: break;
                case 1: output_len += 2; break;
                case 2: output_len += 3; break;
            }
        }

        // Account for the newlines, if any.
        if (encoder.do_newline && len > 0) {
            output_len += (((len-1) / (3 * Encoder.LINE_GROUPS)) + 1) *
                (encoder.do_cr ? 2 : 1);
        }

        encoder.output = new byte[output_len];
        encoder.process(input, offset, len, true);

        assert encoder.op == output_len;

        return encoder.output;
    }

    /* package */ static class Encoder extends Coder {
        /**
         * Emit a new line every this many output tuples.  Corresponds to
         * a 76-character line length (the maximum allowable according to
         * <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt">RFC 2045</a>).
         */
        public static final int LINE_GROUPS = 19;

        /**
         * Lookup table for turning Base64 alphabet positions (6 bits)
         * into output bytes.
         */
        private static final byte ENCODE[] = {
            'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
            'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
            'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
            'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '+', '/',
        };

        /**
         * Lookup table for turning Base64 alphabet positions (6 bits)
         * into output bytes.
         */
        private static final byte ENCODE_WEBSAFE[] = {
            'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
            'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
            'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
            'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '-', '_',
        };

        final private byte[] tail;
        /* package */ int tailLen;
        private int count;

        final public boolean do_padding;
        final public boolean do_newline;
        final public boolean do_cr;
        final private byte[] alphabet;

        public Encoder(int flags, byte[] output) {
            this.output = output;

            do_padding = (flags & NO_PADDING) == 0;
            do_newline = (flags & NO_WRAP) == 0;
            do_cr = (flags & CRLF) != 0;
            alphabet = ((flags & URL_SAFE) == 0) ? ENCODE : ENCODE_WEBSAFE;

            tail = new byte[2];
            tailLen = 0;

            count = do_newline ? LINE_GROUPS : -1;
        }

        /**
         * @return an overestimate for the number of bytes {@code
         * len} bytes could encode to.
         */
        public int maxOutputSize(int len) {
            return len * 8/5 + 10;
        }

        public boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish) {
            // Using local variables makes the encoder about 9% faster.
            final byte[] alphabet = this.alphabet;
            final byte[] output = this.output;
            int op = 0;
            int count = this.count;

            int p = offset;
            len += offset;
            int v = -1;

            // First we need to concatenate the tail of the previous call
            // with any input bytes available now and see if we can empty
            // the tail.

            switch (tailLen) {
                case 0:
                    // There was no tail.
                    break;

                case 1:
                    if (p+2 <= len) {
                        // A 1-byte tail with at least 2 bytes of
                        // input available now.
                        v = ((tail[0] & 0xff) << 16) |
                            ((input[p++] & 0xff) << 8) |
                            (input[p++] & 0xff);
                        tailLen = 0;
                    };
                    break;

                case 2:
                    if (p+1 <= len) {
                        // A 2-byte tail with at least 1 byte of input.
                        v = ((tail[0] & 0xff) << 16) |
                            ((tail[1] & 0xff) << 8) |
                            (input[p++] & 0xff);
                        tailLen = 0;
                    }
                    break;
            }

            if (v != -1) {
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 18) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                if (--count == 0) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                    count = LINE_GROUPS;
                }
            }

            // At this point either there is no tail, or there are fewer
            // than 3 bytes of input available.

            // The main loop, turning 3 input bytes into 4 output bytes on
            // each iteration.
            while (p+3 <= len) {
                v = ((input[p] & 0xff) << 16) |
                    ((input[p+1] & 0xff) << 8) |
                    (input[p+2] & 0xff);
                output[op] = alphabet[(v >> 18) & 0x3f];
                output[op+1] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                output[op+2] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                output[op+3] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                p += 3;
                op += 4;
                if (--count == 0) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                    count = LINE_GROUPS;
                }
            }

            if (finish) {

                if (p-tailLen == len-1) {
                    int t = 0;
                    v = ((tailLen > 0 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 4;
                    tailLen -= t;
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                    if (do_padding) {
                        output[op++] = '=';
                        output[op++] = '=';
                    }
                    if (do_newline) {
                        if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                        output[op++] = '\n';
                    }
                } else if (p-tailLen == len-2) {
                    int t = 0;
                    v = (((tailLen > 1 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 10) |
                        (((tailLen > 0 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 2);
                    tailLen -= t;
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                    if (do_padding) {
                        output[op++] = '=';
                    }
                    if (do_newline) {
                        if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                        output[op++] = '\n';
                    }
                } else if (do_newline && op > 0 && count != LINE_GROUPS) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                }

                assert tailLen == 0;
                assert p == len;
            } else {
                // Save the leftovers in tail to be consumed on the next
                // call to encodeInternal.

                if (p == len-1) {
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p];
                } else if (p == len-2) {
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p];
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p+1];
                }
            }

            this.op = op;
            this.count = count;

            return true;
        }
    }

    private Base64() { }   // don't instantiate
}

Using Java 8 -

    public static String encodeString(String plainString) {
        return  Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(plainString.getBytes());
    }

    public static String decodeString(String encodedString) {
        byte[] bytes = Base64.getDecoder().decode(encodedString);
        return new String(bytes);
    }

Specifically in Commons Codec: class Base64 to decode(byte[] array) or encode(byte[] array)


I used android.util.base64 that works pretty good without any dependances:

Usage:

byte[] decodedKey = Base64.decode(encodedPublicKey, Base64.DEFAULT);

package com.test;

import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;

/**
 * Utilities for encoding and decoding the Base64 representation of
 * binary data.  See RFCs <a
 * href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt">2045</a> and <a
 * href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc3548.txt">3548</a>.
 */
public class Base64 {

    public static final int DEFAULT = 0;


    public static final int NO_PADDING = 1;


    public static final int NO_WRAP = 2;


    public static final int CRLF = 4;


    public static final int URL_SAFE = 8;


    public static final int NO_CLOSE = 16;

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  shared code
    //  --------------------------------------------------------

    /* package */ static abstract class Coder {
        public byte[] output;
        public int op;

        public abstract boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish);


        public abstract int maxOutputSize(int len);
    }

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  decoding
    //  --------------------------------------------------------


    public static byte[] decode(String str, int flags) {
        return decode(str.getBytes(), flags);
    }

    public static byte[] decode(byte[] input, int flags) {
        return decode(input, 0, input.length, flags);
    }


    public static byte[] decode(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        // Allocate space for the most data the input could represent.
        // (It could contain less if it contains whitespace, etc.)
        Decoder decoder = new Decoder(flags, new byte[len*3/4]);

        if (!decoder.process(input, offset, len, true)) {
            throw new IllegalArgumentException("bad base-64");
        }

        // Maybe we got lucky and allocated exactly enough output space.
        if (decoder.op == decoder.output.length) {
            return decoder.output;
        }

        // Need to shorten the array, so allocate a new one of the
        // right size and copy.
        byte[] temp = new byte[decoder.op];
        System.arraycopy(decoder.output, 0, temp, 0, decoder.op);
        return temp;
    }

   static class Decoder extends Coder {       
        private static final int DECODE[] = {
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 62, -1, -1, -1, 63,
            52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -1, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1,
            -1,  0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
            15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
            41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
        };

        /**
         * Decode lookup table for the "web safe" variant (RFC 3548
         * sec. 4) where - and _ replace + and /.
         */
        private static final int DECODE_WEBSAFE[] = {
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, 62, -1, -1,
            52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, -1, -1, -1, -2, -1, -1,
            -1,  0,  1,  2,  3,  4,  5,  6,  7,  8,  9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14,
            15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, -1, -1, -1, -1, 63,
            -1, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40,
            41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
            -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1, -1,
        };

        /** Non-data values in the DECODE arrays. */
        private static final int SKIP = -1;
        private static final int EQUALS = -2;


        private int state;   // state number (0 to 6)
        private int value;

        final private int[] alphabet;

        public Decoder(int flags, byte[] output) {
            this.output = output;

            alphabet = ((flags & URL_SAFE) == 0) ? DECODE : DECODE_WEBSAFE;
            state = 0;
            value = 0;
        }


        public int maxOutputSize(int len) {
            return len * 3/4 + 10;
        }

        /**
         * Decode another block of input data.
         *
         * @return true if the state machine is still healthy.  false if
         *         bad base-64 data has been detected in the input stream.
         */
        public boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish) {
            if (this.state == 6) return false;

            int p = offset;
            len += offset;

            int state = this.state;
            int value = this.value;
            int op = 0;
            final byte[] output = this.output;
            final int[] alphabet = this.alphabet;

            while (p < len) {                
                if (state == 0) {
                    while (p+4 <= len &&
                           (value = ((alphabet[input[p] & 0xff] << 18) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+1] & 0xff] << 12) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+2] & 0xff] << 6) |
                                     (alphabet[input[p+3] & 0xff]))) >= 0) {
                        output[op+2] = (byte) value;
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 8);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 16);
                        op += 3;
                        p += 4;
                    }
                    if (p >= len) break;
                }

                int d = alphabet[input[p++] & 0xff];

                switch (state) {
                case 0:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 1:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 2:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d == EQUALS) {
                        // Emit the last (partial) output tuple;
                        // expect exactly one more padding character.
                        output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 4);
                        state = 4;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 3:
                    if (d >= 0) {
                        // Emit the output triple and return to state 0.
                        value = (value << 6) | d;
                        output[op+2] = (byte) value;
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 8);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 16);
                        op += 3;
                        state = 0;
                    } else if (d == EQUALS) {
                        // Emit the last (partial) output tuple;
                        // expect no further data or padding characters.
                        output[op+1] = (byte) (value >> 2);
                        output[op] = (byte) (value >> 10);
                        op += 2;
                        state = 5;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 4:
                    if (d == EQUALS) {
                        ++state;
                    } else if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;

                case 5:
                    if (d != SKIP) {
                        this.state = 6;
                        return false;
                    }
                    break;
                }
            }

            if (!finish) {
                // We're out of input, but a future call could provide
                // more.
                this.state = state;
                this.value = value;
                this.op = op;
                return true;
            }


            switch (state) {
            case 0:
                break;
            case 1:
                this.state = 6;
                return false;
            case 2:
                output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 4);
                break;
            case 3:
               output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 10);
                output[op++] = (byte) (value >> 2);
                break;
            case 4:
                this.state = 6;
                return false;
            case 5:
                break;
            }

            this.state = state;
            this.op = op;
            return true;
        }
    }

    //  --------------------------------------------------------
    //  encoding
    //  --------------------------------------------------------    
    public static String encodeToString(byte[] input, int flags) {
        try {
            return new String(encode(input, flags), "US-ASCII");
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            // US-ASCII is guaranteed to be available.
            throw new AssertionError(e);
        }
    }


    public static String encodeToString(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        try {
            return new String(encode(input, offset, len, flags), "US-ASCII");
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            // US-ASCII is guaranteed to be available.
            throw new AssertionError(e);
        }
    }


    public static byte[] encode(byte[] input, int flags) {
        return encode(input, 0, input.length, flags);
    }


    public static byte[] encode(byte[] input, int offset, int len, int flags) {
        Encoder encoder = new Encoder(flags, null);

        // Compute the exact length of the array we will produce.
        int output_len = len / 3 * 4;

        // Account for the tail of the data and the padding bytes, if any.
        if (encoder.do_padding) {
            if (len % 3 > 0) {
                output_len += 4;
            }
        } else {
            switch (len % 3) {
                case 0: break;
                case 1: output_len += 2; break;
                case 2: output_len += 3; break;
            }
        }

        // Account for the newlines, if any.
        if (encoder.do_newline && len > 0) {
            output_len += (((len-1) / (3 * Encoder.LINE_GROUPS)) + 1) *
                (encoder.do_cr ? 2 : 1);
        }

        encoder.output = new byte[output_len];
        encoder.process(input, offset, len, true);

        assert encoder.op == output_len;

        return encoder.output;
    }

    /* package */ static class Encoder extends Coder {
        /**
         * Emit a new line every this many output tuples.  Corresponds to
         * a 76-character line length (the maximum allowable according to
         * <a href="http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2045.txt">RFC 2045</a>).
         */
        public static final int LINE_GROUPS = 19;

        /**
         * Lookup table for turning Base64 alphabet positions (6 bits)
         * into output bytes.
         */
        private static final byte ENCODE[] = {
            'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
            'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
            'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
            'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '+', '/',
        };

        /**
         * Lookup table for turning Base64 alphabet positions (6 bits)
         * into output bytes.
         */
        private static final byte ENCODE_WEBSAFE[] = {
            'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
            'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
            'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
            'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '-', '_',
        };

        final private byte[] tail;
        /* package */ int tailLen;
        private int count;

        final public boolean do_padding;
        final public boolean do_newline;
        final public boolean do_cr;
        final private byte[] alphabet;

        public Encoder(int flags, byte[] output) {
            this.output = output;

            do_padding = (flags & NO_PADDING) == 0;
            do_newline = (flags & NO_WRAP) == 0;
            do_cr = (flags & CRLF) != 0;
            alphabet = ((flags & URL_SAFE) == 0) ? ENCODE : ENCODE_WEBSAFE;

            tail = new byte[2];
            tailLen = 0;

            count = do_newline ? LINE_GROUPS : -1;
        }

        /**
         * @return an overestimate for the number of bytes {@code
         * len} bytes could encode to.
         */
        public int maxOutputSize(int len) {
            return len * 8/5 + 10;
        }

        public boolean process(byte[] input, int offset, int len, boolean finish) {
            // Using local variables makes the encoder about 9% faster.
            final byte[] alphabet = this.alphabet;
            final byte[] output = this.output;
            int op = 0;
            int count = this.count;

            int p = offset;
            len += offset;
            int v = -1;

            // First we need to concatenate the tail of the previous call
            // with any input bytes available now and see if we can empty
            // the tail.

            switch (tailLen) {
                case 0:
                    // There was no tail.
                    break;

                case 1:
                    if (p+2 <= len) {
                        // A 1-byte tail with at least 2 bytes of
                        // input available now.
                        v = ((tail[0] & 0xff) << 16) |
                            ((input[p++] & 0xff) << 8) |
                            (input[p++] & 0xff);
                        tailLen = 0;
                    };
                    break;

                case 2:
                    if (p+1 <= len) {
                        // A 2-byte tail with at least 1 byte of input.
                        v = ((tail[0] & 0xff) << 16) |
                            ((tail[1] & 0xff) << 8) |
                            (input[p++] & 0xff);
                        tailLen = 0;
                    }
                    break;
            }

            if (v != -1) {
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 18) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                if (--count == 0) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                    count = LINE_GROUPS;
                }
            }

            // At this point either there is no tail, or there are fewer
            // than 3 bytes of input available.

            // The main loop, turning 3 input bytes into 4 output bytes on
            // each iteration.
            while (p+3 <= len) {
                v = ((input[p] & 0xff) << 16) |
                    ((input[p+1] & 0xff) << 8) |
                    (input[p+2] & 0xff);
                output[op] = alphabet[(v >> 18) & 0x3f];
                output[op+1] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                output[op+2] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                output[op+3] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                p += 3;
                op += 4;
                if (--count == 0) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                    count = LINE_GROUPS;
                }
            }

            if (finish) {

                if (p-tailLen == len-1) {
                    int t = 0;
                    v = ((tailLen > 0 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 4;
                    tailLen -= t;
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                    if (do_padding) {
                        output[op++] = '=';
                        output[op++] = '=';
                    }
                    if (do_newline) {
                        if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                        output[op++] = '\n';
                    }
                } else if (p-tailLen == len-2) {
                    int t = 0;
                    v = (((tailLen > 1 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 10) |
                        (((tailLen > 0 ? tail[t++] : input[p++]) & 0xff) << 2);
                    tailLen -= t;
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 12) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[(v >> 6) & 0x3f];
                    output[op++] = alphabet[v & 0x3f];
                    if (do_padding) {
                        output[op++] = '=';
                    }
                    if (do_newline) {
                        if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                        output[op++] = '\n';
                    }
                } else if (do_newline && op > 0 && count != LINE_GROUPS) {
                    if (do_cr) output[op++] = '\r';
                    output[op++] = '\n';
                }

                assert tailLen == 0;
                assert p == len;
            } else {
                // Save the leftovers in tail to be consumed on the next
                // call to encodeInternal.

                if (p == len-1) {
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p];
                } else if (p == len-2) {
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p];
                    tail[tailLen++] = input[p+1];
                }
            }

            this.op = op;
            this.count = count;

            return true;
        }
    }

    private Base64() { }   // don't instantiate
}

This is a late answer, but Joshua Bloch committed his Base64 class (when he was working for Sun, ahem, Oracle) under the java.util.prefs package. This class existed since JDK 1.4.

E.g.

String currentString = "Hello World";
String base64String = java.util.prefs.Base64.byteArrayToBase64(currentString.getBytes("UTF-8"));

No need to use commons--Sun ships a base64 encoder with Java. You can import it as such:

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

And then use it like this:

BASE64Decoder decoder = new BASE64Decoder();
byte[] decodedBytes = decoder.decodeBuffer(encodedBytes);

Where encodedBytes is either a java.lang.String or a java.io.InputStream. Just beware that the sun.* classes are not "officially supported" by Sun.

EDIT: Who knew this would be the most controversial answer I'd ever post? I do know that sun.* packages are not supported or guaranteed to continue existing, and I do know about Commons and use it all the time. However, the poster asked for a class that that was "included with Sun Java 6," and that's what I was trying to answer. I agree that Commons is the best way to go in general.

EDIT 2: As amir75 points out below, Java 6+ ships with JAXB, which contains supported code to encode/decode Base64. Please see Jeremy Ross' answer below.


You can simply try this.

byte[] data = Base64.getDecoder().decode(base64fileContent);

"Base64.getDecode()" returns a Base64 Decoder that can be decoded. Then you need to decode that again using ".decode()"


Given a test encode/decode example of javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter using methods parseBase64Binary() and printBase64Binary() referring to @jeremy-ross and @nightfirecat answer.

@Test
public void EncodeDecode() {
    //ENCODE
    String hello = "Hello World";
    byte[] helloBytes = hello.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    String encodedHello = DatatypeConverter.printBase64Binary(helloBytes);
    LOGGER.info(hello + " encoded=> " + encodedHello);

    //DECODE
    byte[] encodedHelloBytes = DatatypeConverter.parseBase64Binary(encodedHello);
    String helloAgain = new String(encodedHelloBytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8) ;
    LOGGER.info(encodedHello + " decoded=> " + helloAgain);

    Assert.assertEquals(hello, helloAgain);
}

Result:

INFO - Hello World encoded=> SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=
INFO - SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ= decoded=> Hello World

As an alternative to sun.misc.BASE64Decoder or non-core libraries, look at javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.decode().

public static byte[] encode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    OutputStream b64os = MimeUtility.encode(baos, "base64");
    b64os.write(b);
    b64os.close();
    return baos.toByteArray();
}
public static byte[] decode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    InputStream b64is = MimeUtility.decode(bais, "base64");
    byte[] tmp = new byte[b.length];
    int n = b64is.read(tmp);
    byte[] res = new byte[n];
    System.arraycopy(tmp, 0, res, 0, n);
    return res;
}

Link with full code: Encode/Decode to/from Base64


Here's my own implementation, if it could be useful to someone :

public class Base64Coder {

    // The line separator string of the operating system.
    private static final String systemLineSeparator = System.getProperty("line.separator");

    // Mapping table from 6-bit nibbles to Base64 characters.
    private static final char[] map1 = new char[64];
       static {
          int i=0;
          for (char c='A'; c<='Z'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          for (char c='a'; c<='z'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          for (char c='0'; c<='9'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          map1[i++] = '+'; map1[i++] = '/'; }

    // Mapping table from Base64 characters to 6-bit nibbles.
    private static final byte[] map2 = new byte[128];
       static {
          for (int i=0; i<map2.length; i++) map2[i] = -1;
          for (int i=0; i<64; i++) map2[map1[i]] = (byte)i; }

    /**
    * Encodes a string into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted.
    * @param s  A String to be encoded.
    * @return   A String containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static String encodeString (String s) {
       return new String(encode(s.getBytes())); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base 64 format and breaks the output into lines of 76 characters.
    * This method is compatible with <code>sun.misc.BASE64Encoder.encodeBuffer(byte[])</code>.
    * @param in  An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @return    A String containing the Base64 encoded data, broken into lines.
    */
    public static String encodeLines (byte[] in) {
       return encodeLines(in, 0, in.length, 76, systemLineSeparator); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base 64 format and breaks the output into lines.
    * @param in            An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iOff          Offset of the first byte in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen          Number of bytes to be processed in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @param lineLen       Line length for the output data. Should be a multiple of 4.
    * @param lineSeparator The line separator to be used to separate the output lines.
    * @return              A String containing the Base64 encoded data, broken into lines.
    */
    public static String encodeLines (byte[] in, int iOff, int iLen, int lineLen, String lineSeparator) {
       int blockLen = (lineLen*3) / 4;
       if (blockLen <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
       int lines = (iLen+blockLen-1) / blockLen;
       int bufLen = ((iLen+2)/3)*4 + lines*lineSeparator.length();
       StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(bufLen);
       int ip = 0;
       while (ip < iLen) {
          int l = Math.min(iLen-ip, blockLen);
          buf.append (encode(in, iOff+ip, l));
          buf.append (lineSeparator);
          ip += l; }
       return buf.toString(); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in  An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @return    A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in) {
       return encode(in, 0, in.length); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in    An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iLen  Number of bytes to process in <code>in</code>.
    * @return      A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in, int iLen) {
       return encode(in, 0, iLen); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in    An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iOff  Offset of the first byte in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen  Number of bytes to process in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @return      A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in, int iOff, int iLen) {
       int oDataLen = (iLen*4+2)/3;       // output length without padding
       int oLen = ((iLen+2)/3)*4;         // output length including padding
       char[] out = new char[oLen];
       int ip = iOff;
       int iEnd = iOff + iLen;
       int op = 0;
       while (ip < iEnd) {
          int i0 = in[ip++] & 0xff;
          int i1 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] & 0xff : 0;
          int i2 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] & 0xff : 0;
          int o0 = i0 >>> 2;
          int o1 = ((i0 &   3) << 4) | (i1 >>> 4);
          int o2 = ((i1 & 0xf) << 2) | (i2 >>> 6);
          int o3 = i2 & 0x3F;
          out[op++] = map1[o0];
          out[op++] = map1[o1];
          out[op] = op < oDataLen ? map1[o2] : '='; op++;
          out[op] = op < oDataLen ? map1[o3] : '='; op++; }
       return out; }

    /**
    * Decodes a string from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   A String containing the decoded data.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static String decodeString (String s) {
       return new String(decode(s)); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format and ignores line separators, tabs and blanks.
    * CR, LF, Tab and Space characters are ignored in the input data.
    * This method is compatible with <code>sun.misc.BASE64Decoder.decodeBuffer(String)</code>.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decodeLines (String s) {
       char[] buf = new char[s.length()];
       int p = 0;
       for (int ip = 0; ip < s.length(); ip++) {
          char c = s.charAt(ip);
          if (c != ' ' && c != '\r' && c != '\n' && c != '\t')
             buf[p++] = c; }
       return decode(buf, 0, p); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (String s) {
       return decode(s.toCharArray()); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param in  A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    * @return    An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws    IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (char[] in) {
       return decode(in, 0, in.length); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param in    A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    * @param iOff  Offset of the first character in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen  Number of characters to process in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @return      An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws      IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (char[] in, int iOff, int iLen) {
       if (iLen%4 != 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Length of Base64 encoded input string is not a multiple of 4.");
       while (iLen > 0 && in[iOff+iLen-1] == '=') iLen--;
       int oLen = (iLen*3) / 4;
       byte[] out = new byte[oLen];
       int ip = iOff;
       int iEnd = iOff + iLen;
       int op = 0;
       while (ip < iEnd) {
          int i0 = in[ip++];
          int i1 = in[ip++];
          int i2 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] : 'A';
          int i3 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] : 'A';
          if (i0 > 127 || i1 > 127 || i2 > 127 || i3 > 127)
             throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Illegal character in Base64 encoded data.");
          int b0 = map2[i0];
          int b1 = map2[i1];
          int b2 = map2[i2];
          int b3 = map2[i3];
          if (b0 < 0 || b1 < 0 || b2 < 0 || b3 < 0)
             throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Illegal character in Base64 encoded data.");
          int o0 = ( b0       <<2) | (b1>>>4);
          int o1 = ((b1 & 0xf)<<4) | (b2>>>2);
          int o2 = ((b2 &   3)<<6) |  b3;
          out[op++] = (byte)o0;
          if (op<oLen) out[op++] = (byte)o1;
          if (op<oLen) out[op++] = (byte)o2; }
       return out; }

    // Dummy constructor.
    private Base64Coder() {}
}

Specifically in Commons Codec: class Base64 to decode(byte[] array) or encode(byte[] array)


Hope this helps you:

import com.sun.org.apache.xml.internal.security.utils.Base64;
String str="Hello World";
String base64_str=Base64.encode(str.getBytes("UTF-8"));

Or:

String str="Hello World";
String base64_str="";
try
   {base64_str=(String)Class.forName("java.util.prefs.Base64").getDeclaredMethod("byteArrayToBase64", new Class[]{byte[].class}).invoke(null, new Object[]{str.getBytes("UTF-8")});
   }
catch (Exception ee) {}

java.util.prefs.Base64 works on local rt.jar,

But it is not in The JRE Class White List

and not in Available classes not listed in the GAE/J white-list

What a pity!

PS. In android, it's easy because that android.util.Base64 has been included since Android API Level 8.


As an alternative to sun.misc.BASE64Decoder or non-core libraries, look at javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.decode().

public static byte[] encode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    OutputStream b64os = MimeUtility.encode(baos, "base64");
    b64os.write(b);
    b64os.close();
    return baos.toByteArray();
}
public static byte[] decode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    InputStream b64is = MimeUtility.decode(bais, "base64");
    byte[] tmp = new byte[b.length];
    int n = b64is.read(tmp);
    byte[] res = new byte[n];
    System.arraycopy(tmp, 0, res, 0, n);
    return res;
}

Link with full code: Encode/Decode to/from Base64


Another late answer, but my benchmarking shows that Jetty's implementation of Base64 encoder is pretty fast. Not as fast as MiGBase64 but faster than iHarder Base64.

import org.eclipse.jetty.util.B64Code;

final String decoded = B64Code.decode(encoded, "UTF-8");

I also did some benchmarks:

      library     |    encode    |    decode   
------------------+--------------+-------------
 'MiGBase64'      |  10146001.00 |  6426446.00
 'Jetty B64Code'  |   8846191.00 |  3101361.75
 'iHarder Base64' |   3259590.50 |  2505280.00
 'Commons-Codec'  |    241318.04 |   255179.96

These are runs/sec so higher is better.


The Java 8 implementation of java.util.Base64 has no dependencies on other Java 8 specific classes.

I am not certain if this will work for Java 6 project, but it is possible to copy and paste the Base64.java file into a Java 7 project and compile it with no modification other than importing java.util.Arrays and java.util.Objects.

Note the Base64.java file is covered by the GNU GPL2


You can simply try this.

byte[] data = Base64.getDecoder().decode(base64fileContent);

"Base64.getDecode()" returns a Base64 Decoder that can be decoded. Then you need to decode that again using ".decode()"


As an alternative to sun.misc.BASE64Decoder or non-core libraries, look at javax.mail.internet.MimeUtility.decode().

public static byte[] encode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new ByteArrayOutputStream();
    OutputStream b64os = MimeUtility.encode(baos, "base64");
    b64os.write(b);
    b64os.close();
    return baos.toByteArray();
}
public static byte[] decode(byte[] b) throws Exception {
    ByteArrayInputStream bais = new ByteArrayInputStream(b);
    InputStream b64is = MimeUtility.decode(bais, "base64");
    byte[] tmp = new byte[b.length];
    int n = b64is.read(tmp);
    byte[] res = new byte[n];
    System.arraycopy(tmp, 0, res, 0, n);
    return res;
}

Link with full code: Encode/Decode to/from Base64


No need to use commons--Sun ships a base64 encoder with Java. You can import it as such:

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

And then use it like this:

BASE64Decoder decoder = new BASE64Decoder();
byte[] decodedBytes = decoder.decodeBuffer(encodedBytes);

Where encodedBytes is either a java.lang.String or a java.io.InputStream. Just beware that the sun.* classes are not "officially supported" by Sun.

EDIT: Who knew this would be the most controversial answer I'd ever post? I do know that sun.* packages are not supported or guaranteed to continue existing, and I do know about Commons and use it all the time. However, the poster asked for a class that that was "included with Sun Java 6," and that's what I was trying to answer. I agree that Commons is the best way to go in general.

EDIT 2: As amir75 points out below, Java 6+ ships with JAXB, which contains supported code to encode/decode Base64. Please see Jeremy Ross' answer below.


Here's my own implementation, if it could be useful to someone :

public class Base64Coder {

    // The line separator string of the operating system.
    private static final String systemLineSeparator = System.getProperty("line.separator");

    // Mapping table from 6-bit nibbles to Base64 characters.
    private static final char[] map1 = new char[64];
       static {
          int i=0;
          for (char c='A'; c<='Z'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          for (char c='a'; c<='z'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          for (char c='0'; c<='9'; c++) map1[i++] = c;
          map1[i++] = '+'; map1[i++] = '/'; }

    // Mapping table from Base64 characters to 6-bit nibbles.
    private static final byte[] map2 = new byte[128];
       static {
          for (int i=0; i<map2.length; i++) map2[i] = -1;
          for (int i=0; i<64; i++) map2[map1[i]] = (byte)i; }

    /**
    * Encodes a string into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted.
    * @param s  A String to be encoded.
    * @return   A String containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static String encodeString (String s) {
       return new String(encode(s.getBytes())); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base 64 format and breaks the output into lines of 76 characters.
    * This method is compatible with <code>sun.misc.BASE64Encoder.encodeBuffer(byte[])</code>.
    * @param in  An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @return    A String containing the Base64 encoded data, broken into lines.
    */
    public static String encodeLines (byte[] in) {
       return encodeLines(in, 0, in.length, 76, systemLineSeparator); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base 64 format and breaks the output into lines.
    * @param in            An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iOff          Offset of the first byte in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen          Number of bytes to be processed in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @param lineLen       Line length for the output data. Should be a multiple of 4.
    * @param lineSeparator The line separator to be used to separate the output lines.
    * @return              A String containing the Base64 encoded data, broken into lines.
    */
    public static String encodeLines (byte[] in, int iOff, int iLen, int lineLen, String lineSeparator) {
       int blockLen = (lineLen*3) / 4;
       if (blockLen <= 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException();
       int lines = (iLen+blockLen-1) / blockLen;
       int bufLen = ((iLen+2)/3)*4 + lines*lineSeparator.length();
       StringBuilder buf = new StringBuilder(bufLen);
       int ip = 0;
       while (ip < iLen) {
          int l = Math.min(iLen-ip, blockLen);
          buf.append (encode(in, iOff+ip, l));
          buf.append (lineSeparator);
          ip += l; }
       return buf.toString(); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in  An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @return    A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in) {
       return encode(in, 0, in.length); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in    An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iLen  Number of bytes to process in <code>in</code>.
    * @return      A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in, int iLen) {
       return encode(in, 0, iLen); }

    /**
    * Encodes a byte array into Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are inserted in the output.
    * @param in    An array containing the data bytes to be encoded.
    * @param iOff  Offset of the first byte in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen  Number of bytes to process in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @return      A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static char[] encode (byte[] in, int iOff, int iLen) {
       int oDataLen = (iLen*4+2)/3;       // output length without padding
       int oLen = ((iLen+2)/3)*4;         // output length including padding
       char[] out = new char[oLen];
       int ip = iOff;
       int iEnd = iOff + iLen;
       int op = 0;
       while (ip < iEnd) {
          int i0 = in[ip++] & 0xff;
          int i1 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] & 0xff : 0;
          int i2 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] & 0xff : 0;
          int o0 = i0 >>> 2;
          int o1 = ((i0 &   3) << 4) | (i1 >>> 4);
          int o2 = ((i1 & 0xf) << 2) | (i2 >>> 6);
          int o3 = i2 & 0x3F;
          out[op++] = map1[o0];
          out[op++] = map1[o1];
          out[op] = op < oDataLen ? map1[o2] : '='; op++;
          out[op] = op < oDataLen ? map1[o3] : '='; op++; }
       return out; }

    /**
    * Decodes a string from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   A String containing the decoded data.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static String decodeString (String s) {
       return new String(decode(s)); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format and ignores line separators, tabs and blanks.
    * CR, LF, Tab and Space characters are ignored in the input data.
    * This method is compatible with <code>sun.misc.BASE64Decoder.decodeBuffer(String)</code>.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decodeLines (String s) {
       char[] buf = new char[s.length()];
       int p = 0;
       for (int ip = 0; ip < s.length(); ip++) {
          char c = s.charAt(ip);
          if (c != ' ' && c != '\r' && c != '\n' && c != '\t')
             buf[p++] = c; }
       return decode(buf, 0, p); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param s  A Base64 String to be decoded.
    * @return   An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws   IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (String s) {
       return decode(s.toCharArray()); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param in  A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    * @return    An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws    IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (char[] in) {
       return decode(in, 0, in.length); }

    /**
    * Decodes a byte array from Base64 format.
    * No blanks or line breaks are allowed within the Base64 encoded input data.
    * @param in    A character array containing the Base64 encoded data.
    * @param iOff  Offset of the first character in <code>in</code> to be processed.
    * @param iLen  Number of characters to process in <code>in</code>, starting at <code>iOff</code>.
    * @return      An array containing the decoded data bytes.
    * @throws      IllegalArgumentException If the input is not valid Base64 encoded data.
    */
    public static byte[] decode (char[] in, int iOff, int iLen) {
       if (iLen%4 != 0) throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Length of Base64 encoded input string is not a multiple of 4.");
       while (iLen > 0 && in[iOff+iLen-1] == '=') iLen--;
       int oLen = (iLen*3) / 4;
       byte[] out = new byte[oLen];
       int ip = iOff;
       int iEnd = iOff + iLen;
       int op = 0;
       while (ip < iEnd) {
          int i0 = in[ip++];
          int i1 = in[ip++];
          int i2 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] : 'A';
          int i3 = ip < iEnd ? in[ip++] : 'A';
          if (i0 > 127 || i1 > 127 || i2 > 127 || i3 > 127)
             throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Illegal character in Base64 encoded data.");
          int b0 = map2[i0];
          int b1 = map2[i1];
          int b2 = map2[i2];
          int b3 = map2[i3];
          if (b0 < 0 || b1 < 0 || b2 < 0 || b3 < 0)
             throw new IllegalArgumentException ("Illegal character in Base64 encoded data.");
          int o0 = ( b0       <<2) | (b1>>>4);
          int o1 = ((b1 & 0xf)<<4) | (b2>>>2);
          int o2 = ((b2 &   3)<<6) |  b3;
          out[op++] = (byte)o0;
          if (op<oLen) out[op++] = (byte)o1;
          if (op<oLen) out[op++] = (byte)o2; }
       return out; }

    // Dummy constructor.
    private Base64Coder() {}
}

Specifically in Commons Codec: class Base64 to decode(byte[] array) or encode(byte[] array)


Hope this helps you:

import com.sun.org.apache.xml.internal.security.utils.Base64;
String str="Hello World";
String base64_str=Base64.encode(str.getBytes("UTF-8"));

Or:

String str="Hello World";
String base64_str="";
try
   {base64_str=(String)Class.forName("java.util.prefs.Base64").getDeclaredMethod("byteArrayToBase64", new Class[]{byte[].class}).invoke(null, new Object[]{str.getBytes("UTF-8")});
   }
catch (Exception ee) {}

java.util.prefs.Base64 works on local rt.jar,

But it is not in The JRE Class White List

and not in Available classes not listed in the GAE/J white-list

What a pity!

PS. In android, it's easy because that android.util.Base64 has been included since Android API Level 8.


Given a test encode/decode example of javax.xml.bind.DatatypeConverter using methods parseBase64Binary() and printBase64Binary() referring to @jeremy-ross and @nightfirecat answer.

@Test
public void EncodeDecode() {
    //ENCODE
    String hello = "Hello World";
    byte[] helloBytes = hello.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
    String encodedHello = DatatypeConverter.printBase64Binary(helloBytes);
    LOGGER.info(hello + " encoded=> " + encodedHello);

    //DECODE
    byte[] encodedHelloBytes = DatatypeConverter.parseBase64Binary(encodedHello);
    String helloAgain = new String(encodedHelloBytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8) ;
    LOGGER.info(encodedHello + " decoded=> " + helloAgain);

    Assert.assertEquals(hello, helloAgain);
}

Result:

INFO - Hello World encoded=> SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ=
INFO - SGVsbG8gV29ybGQ= decoded=> Hello World

As of Java 8, there is an officially supported API for Base64 encoding and decoding. In time this will probably become the default choice.

The API includes the class java.util.Base64 and its nested classes. It supports three different flavors: basic, URL safe, and MIME.

Sample code using the "basic" encoding:

import java.util.Base64;

byte[] bytes = "Hello, World!".getBytes("UTF-8");
String encoded = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(bytes);
byte[] decoded = Base64.getDecoder().decode(encoded);

The documentation for java.util.Base64 includes several more methods for configuring encoders and decoders, and for using different classes as inputs and outputs (byte arrays, strings, ByteBuffers, java.io streams).


import java.io.UnsupportedEncodingException;
import java.security.MessageDigest;
import java.security.NoSuchAlgorithmException;
import java.util.Arrays;
import java.util.Base64;

import javax.crypto.Cipher;
import javax.crypto.spec.SecretKeySpec;
/***
 * 
 * @author Vaquar khan
 * 
 *
 */
public class AES {

    private static SecretKeySpec secretKey;
    private static final String VK_secretKey = "VaquarKhan-secrate-key!!!!";
    private static byte[] key;

    /**
     * 
     * @param myKey
     */
    public static void setKey(String myKey) {
        MessageDigest sha = null;
        try {
            key = myKey.getBytes("UTF-8");
            sha = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-1");
            key = sha.digest(key);
            key = Arrays.copyOf(key, 16);
            secretKey = new SecretKeySpec(key, "AES");
        } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        } catch (UnsupportedEncodingException e) {
            e.printStackTrace();
        }
    }
/**
 * encrypt
 * @param strToEncrypt
 * @param secret
 * @return
 */
    public static String encrypt(String strToEncrypt, String secret) {
        try {
            setKey(secret);
            Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/ECB/PKCS5Padding");
            cipher.init(Cipher.ENCRYPT_MODE, secretKey);
            return Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(cipher.doFinal(strToEncrypt.getBytes("UTF-8")));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Error while encrypting: " + e.toString());
        }
        return null;
    }
/**
 * decrypt
 * @param strToDecrypt
 * @param secret
 * @return
 */
    public static String decrypt(String strToDecrypt, String secret) {
        try {
            setKey(secret);
            Cipher cipher = Cipher.getInstance("AES/ECB/PKCS5PADDING");
            cipher.init(Cipher.DECRYPT_MODE, secretKey);
            return new String(cipher.doFinal(Base64.getDecoder().decode(strToDecrypt)));
        } catch (Exception e) {
            System.out.println("Error while decrypting: " + e.toString());
        }
        return null;
    }

    public static void main(String[] args) {
        final String secretKey = VK_secretKey;
        String password = "VKhan@12";
        //
        String encryptedString = AES.encrypt(password, secretKey);
        String decryptedString = AES.decrypt(encryptedString, secretKey);
        //
        System.out.println(password);
        System.out.println(encryptedString);
        System.out.println(decryptedString);
    }

}

Guava now has Base64 decoding built in.

Use BaseEncoding.base64().decode()

As for dealing with possible whitespace in input use

BaseEncoding.base64().decode(CharMatcher.WHITESPACE.removeFrom(...));

See this discussion for more information


You can write or download file from encoded Base64 string:

Base64 base64 = new Base64(); 
String encodedFile="JVBERi0xLjUKJeLjz9MKMSAwIG9iago8PCAKICAgL1R5cGUgL0NhdGFsb2cKICAgL1BhZ2VzIDIgMCBSCiAgIC9QYWdlTGF5b3V0IC9TaW5"; 
              byte[] dd=encodedFile.getBytes();
            byte[] bytes = Base64.decodeBase64(dd);

 response.setHeader("Content-disposition", "attachment; filename=\""+filename+"\"");
            response.setHeader("Cache-Control", "no-cache");
            response.setHeader("Expires", "-1");

            // actually send result bytes
            response.getOutputStream().write(bytes);

Worked for me and hopefully for you also...


No need to use commons--Sun ships a base64 encoder with Java. You can import it as such:

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

And then use it like this:

BASE64Decoder decoder = new BASE64Decoder();
byte[] decodedBytes = decoder.decodeBuffer(encodedBytes);

Where encodedBytes is either a java.lang.String or a java.io.InputStream. Just beware that the sun.* classes are not "officially supported" by Sun.

EDIT: Who knew this would be the most controversial answer I'd ever post? I do know that sun.* packages are not supported or guaranteed to continue existing, and I do know about Commons and use it all the time. However, the poster asked for a class that that was "included with Sun Java 6," and that's what I was trying to answer. I agree that Commons is the best way to go in general.

EDIT 2: As amir75 points out below, Java 6+ ships with JAXB, which contains supported code to encode/decode Base64. Please see Jeremy Ross' answer below.


Guava now has Base64 decoding built in.

Use BaseEncoding.base64().decode()

As for dealing with possible whitespace in input use

BaseEncoding.base64().decode(CharMatcher.WHITESPACE.removeFrom(...));

See this discussion for more information


If You are prefering performance based solution then you can use "MiGBase64"

http://migbase64.sourceforge.net/

public class Base64Test {
    public static void main(String[] args) {
    String encodeToString = Base64.encodeToString("JavaTips.net".getBytes(), true);
    System.out.println("encodeToString " + encodeToString);
    byte[] decodedBytes = Base64.decode(encodeToString.getBytes());
    System.out.println("decodedBytes " + new String(decodedBytes));
    }
}

No need to use commons--Sun ships a base64 encoder with Java. You can import it as such:

import sun.misc.BASE64Decoder;

And then use it like this:

BASE64Decoder decoder = new BASE64Decoder();
byte[] decodedBytes = decoder.decodeBuffer(encodedBytes);

Where encodedBytes is either a java.lang.String or a java.io.InputStream. Just beware that the sun.* classes are not "officially supported" by Sun.

EDIT: Who knew this would be the most controversial answer I'd ever post? I do know that sun.* packages are not supported or guaranteed to continue existing, and I do know about Commons and use it all the time. However, the poster asked for a class that that was "included with Sun Java 6," and that's what I was trying to answer. I agree that Commons is the best way to go in general.

EDIT 2: As amir75 points out below, Java 6+ ships with JAXB, which contains supported code to encode/decode Base64. Please see Jeremy Ross' answer below.