I know this question is quite old, but I was getting confused by the amount of solutions provided - each one of them claiming to be faster and better. I put together a project on github to compare the base64 encoders and decoders: https://github.com/gaspardpetit/base64/
At this point, I have not limited myself to C algorithms - if one implementation performs well in C++, it can easily be backported to C. Also tests were conducted using Visual Studio 2015. If somebody wants to update this answer with results from clang/gcc, be my guest.
FASTEST ENCODERS: The two fastest encoder implementations I found were Jouni Malinen's at http://web.mit.edu/freebsd/head/contrib/wpa/src/utils/base64.c and the Apache at https://opensource.apple.com/source/QuickTimeStreamingServer/QuickTimeStreamingServer-452/CommonUtilitiesLib/base64.c.
Here is the time (in microseconds) to encode 32K of data using the different algorithms I have tested up to now:
jounimalinen 25.1544
apache 25.5309
NibbleAndAHalf 38.4165
internetsoftwareconsortium 48.2879
polfosol 48.7955
wikibooks_org_c 51.9659
gnome 74.8188
elegantdice 118.899
libb64 120.601
manuelmartinez 120.801
arduino 126.262
daedalusalpha 126.473
CppCodec 151.866
wikibooks_org_cpp 343.2
adp_gmbh 381.523
LihO 406.693
libcurl 3246.39
user152949 4828.21
(René Nyffenegger's solution, credited in another answer to this question, is listed here as adp_gmbh).
Here is the one from Jouni Malinen that I slightly modified to return a std::string:
/*
* Base64 encoding/decoding (RFC1341)
* Copyright (c) 2005-2011, Jouni Malinen <[email protected]>
*
* This software may be distributed under the terms of the BSD license.
* See README for more details.
*/
// 2016-12-12 - Gaspard Petit : Slightly modified to return a std::string
// instead of a buffer allocated with malloc.
#include <string>
static const unsigned char base64_table[65] =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
/**
* base64_encode - Base64 encode
* @src: Data to be encoded
* @len: Length of the data to be encoded
* @out_len: Pointer to output length variable, or %NULL if not used
* Returns: Allocated buffer of out_len bytes of encoded data,
* or empty string on failure
*/
std::string base64_encode(const unsigned char *src, size_t len)
{
unsigned char *out, *pos;
const unsigned char *end, *in;
size_t olen;
olen = 4*((len + 2) / 3); /* 3-byte blocks to 4-byte */
if (olen < len)
return std::string(); /* integer overflow */
std::string outStr;
outStr.resize(olen);
out = (unsigned char*)&outStr[0];
end = src + len;
in = src;
pos = out;
while (end - in >= 3) {
*pos++ = base64_table[in[0] >> 2];
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[0] & 0x03) << 4) | (in[1] >> 4)];
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[1] & 0x0f) << 2) | (in[2] >> 6)];
*pos++ = base64_table[in[2] & 0x3f];
in += 3;
}
if (end - in) {
*pos++ = base64_table[in[0] >> 2];
if (end - in == 1) {
*pos++ = base64_table[(in[0] & 0x03) << 4];
*pos++ = '=';
}
else {
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[0] & 0x03) << 4) |
(in[1] >> 4)];
*pos++ = base64_table[(in[1] & 0x0f) << 2];
}
*pos++ = '=';
}
return outStr;
}
FASTEST DECODERS: Here are the decoding results and I must admit that I am a bit surprised:
polfosol 45.2335
wikibooks_org_c 74.7347
apache 77.1438
libb64 100.332
gnome 114.511
manuelmartinez 126.579
elegantdice 138.514
daedalusalpha 151.561
jounimalinen 206.163
arduino 335.95
wikibooks_org_cpp 350.437
CppCodec 526.187
internetsoftwareconsortium 862.833
libcurl 1280.27
LihO 1852.4
adp_gmbh 1934.43
user152949 5332.87
Polfosol's snippet from base64 decode snippet in c++ is the fastest by a factor of almost 2x.
Here is the code for the sake of completeness:
static const int B64index[256] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 62, 63, 62, 62, 63, 52, 53, 54, 55,
56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 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, 0,
0, 0, 0, 63, 0, 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 };
std::string b64decode(const void* data, const size_t len)
{
unsigned char* p = (unsigned char*)data;
int pad = len > 0 && (len % 4 || p[len - 1] == '=');
const size_t L = ((len + 3) / 4 - pad) * 4;
std::string str(L / 4 * 3 + pad, '\0');
for (size_t i = 0, j = 0; i < L; i += 4)
{
int n = B64index[p[i]] << 18 | B64index[p[i + 1]] << 12 | B64index[p[i + 2]] << 6 | B64index[p[i + 3]];
str[j++] = n >> 16;
str[j++] = n >> 8 & 0xFF;
str[j++] = n & 0xFF;
}
if (pad)
{
int n = B64index[p[L]] << 18 | B64index[p[L + 1]] << 12;
str[str.size() - 1] = n >> 16;
if (len > L + 2 && p[L + 2] != '=')
{
n |= B64index[p[L + 2]] << 6;
str.push_back(n >> 8 & 0xFF);
}
}
return str;
}
Small improvement to the code from ryyst (who got the most votes) is to not use dynamically allocated decoding table but rather static const precomputed table. This eliminates the use of pointer and initialization of the table, and also avoids memory leakage if one forgets to clean up the decoding table with base64_cleanup() (by the way, in base64_cleanup(), after calling free(decoding_table), one should have decoding_table=NULL, otherwise accidentally calling base64_decode after base64_cleanup() will crash or cause undetermined behavior). Another solution could be to use std::unique_ptr...but I'm satisfied with just having const char[256] on the stack and avoid using pointers alltogether - the code looks cleaner and shorter this way.
The decoding table is computed as follows:
const char encoding_table[] = {
'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', '+', '/' };
unsigned char decoding_table[256];
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
decoding_table[i] = '\0';
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char)encoding_table[i]] = i;
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
cout << "0x" << (int(decoding_table[i]) < 16 ? "0" : "") << hex << int(decoding_table[i]) << (i != 255 ? "," : "") << ((i+1) % 16 == 0 ? '\n' : '\0');
cin.ignore();
and the modified code I am using is:
static const char encoding_table[] = {
'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', '+', '/' };
static const unsigned char decoding_table[256] = {
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3f,
0x34, 0x35, 0x36, 0x37, 0x38, 0x39, 0x3a, 0x3b, 0x3c, 0x3d, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e,
0x0f, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16, 0x17, 0x18, 0x19, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x1a, 0x1b, 0x1c, 0x1d, 0x1e, 0x1f, 0x20, 0x21, 0x22, 0x23, 0x24, 0x25, 0x26, 0x27, 0x28,
0x29, 0x2a, 0x2b, 0x2c, 0x2d, 0x2e, 0x2f, 0x30, 0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 };
char* base64_encode(const unsigned char *data, size_t input_length, size_t &output_length) {
const int mod_table[] = { 0, 2, 1 };
output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = (char*)malloc(output_length);
if (encoded_data == nullptr)
return nullptr;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
return encoded_data;
};
unsigned char* base64_decode(const char *data, size_t input_length, size_t &output_length) {
if (input_length % 4 != 0)
return nullptr;
output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (output_length)--;
unsigned char* decoded_data = (unsigned char*)malloc(output_length);
if (decoded_data == nullptr)
return nullptr;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
};
Here's the decoder I've been using for years...
static const char table[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
static const int BASE64_INPUT_SIZE = 57;
BOOL isbase64(char c)
{
return c && strchr(table, c) != NULL;
}
inline char value(char c)
{
const char *p = strchr(table, c);
if(p) {
return p-table;
} else {
return 0;
}
}
int UnBase64(unsigned char *dest, const unsigned char *src, int srclen)
{
*dest = 0;
if(*src == 0)
{
return 0;
}
unsigned char *p = dest;
do
{
char a = value(src[0]);
char b = value(src[1]);
char c = value(src[2]);
char d = value(src[3]);
*p++ = (a << 2) | (b >> 4);
*p++ = (b << 4) | (c >> 2);
*p++ = (c << 6) | d;
if(!isbase64(src[1]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[2]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[3]))
{
p--;
break;
}
src += 4;
while(*src && (*src == 13 || *src == 10)) src++;
}
while(srclen-= 4);
*p = 0;
return p-dest;
}
If you want to find a workable C solution,
I believe you need this.
https://github.com/littlstar/b64.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "b64.h"
int
main (void) {
unsigned char *str = "brian the monkey and bradley the kinkajou are friends";
char *enc = b64_encode(str, strlen(str));
printf("%s\n", enc); // YnJpYW4gdGhlIG1vbmtleSBhbmQgYnJhZGxleSB0aGUga2lua2Fqb3UgYXJlIGZyaWVuZHM=
char *dec = b64_decode(enc, strlen(enc));
printf("%s\n", dec); // brian the monkey and bradley the kinkajou are friends
free(enc);
free(dec);
return 0;
}
I fix @ryyst answer's bug and this is a url safe version:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static char encoding_table[] = {'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', '-', '_'};
static char *decoding_table = NULL;
static int mod_table[] = {0, 2, 1};
void build_decoding_table() {
decoding_table = malloc(256);
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char) encoding_table[i]] = i;
}
void base64_cleanup() {
free(decoding_table);
}
char *base64_encode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
//int i=0;
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[*output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
*output_length = *output_length -2 + mod_table[input_length % 3];
encoded_data[*output_length] =0;
return encoded_data;
}
unsigned char *base64_decode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
if (decoding_table == NULL) build_decoding_table();
if (input_length % 4 != 0) return NULL;
*output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (*output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (*output_length)--;
unsigned char *decoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (decoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
}
int main(){
const char * data = "Hello World! ??!??!";
size_t input_size = strlen(data);
printf("Input size: %ld \n",input_size);
char * encoded_data = base64_encode(data, input_size, &input_size);
printf("After size: %ld \n",input_size);
printf("Encoded Data is: %s \n",encoded_data);
size_t decode_size = strlen(encoded_data);
printf("Output size: %ld \n",decode_size);
unsigned char * decoded_data = base64_decode(encoded_data, decode_size, &decode_size);
printf("After size: %ld \n",decode_size);
printf("Decoded Data is: %s \n",decoded_data);
return 0;
}
This is a decoder that is specifically written to avoid the need for a buffer, by writing directly to a putchar function. This is based on wikibook's implementation https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Algorithm_Implementation/Miscellaneous/Base64#C
This is not as easy to use as other options above. However, it can be of use in embedded systems, where you want to dump a large file without allocating another large buffer to store the resultant base64 datauri string. (It's a pity that datauri does not let you specify the filename).
void datauriBase64EncodeBufferless(int (*putchar_fcptr)(int), const char* type_strptr, const void* data_buf, const size_t dataLength)
{
const char base64chars[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
const uint8_t *data = (const uint8_t *)data_buf;
size_t x = 0;
uint32_t n = 0;
int padCount = dataLength % 3;
uint8_t n0, n1, n2, n3;
size_t outcount = 0;
size_t line = 0;
putchar_fcptr((int)'d');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)'t');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)':');
outcount += 5;
while (*type_strptr != '\0')
{
putchar_fcptr((int)*type_strptr);
type_strptr++;
outcount++;
}
putchar_fcptr((int)';');
putchar_fcptr((int)'b');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)'s');
putchar_fcptr((int)'e');
putchar_fcptr((int)'6');
putchar_fcptr((int)'4');
putchar_fcptr((int)',');
outcount += 8;
/* increment over the length of the string, three characters at a time */
for (x = 0; x < dataLength; x += 3)
{
/* these three 8-bit (ASCII) characters become one 24-bit number */
n = ((uint32_t)data[x]) << 16; //parenthesis needed, compiler depending on flags can do the shifting before conversion to uint32_t, resulting to 0
if((x+1) < dataLength)
n += ((uint32_t)data[x+1]) << 8;//parenthesis needed, compiler depending on flags can do the shifting before conversion to uint32_t, resulting to 0
if((x+2) < dataLength)
n += data[x+2];
/* this 24-bit number gets separated into four 6-bit numbers */
n0 = (uint8_t)(n >> 18) & 63;
n1 = (uint8_t)(n >> 12) & 63;
n2 = (uint8_t)(n >> 6) & 63;
n3 = (uint8_t)n & 63;
/*
* if we have one byte available, then its encoding is spread
* out over two characters
*/
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n0]);
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n1]);
outcount += 2;
/*
* if we have only two bytes available, then their encoding is
* spread out over three chars
*/
if((x+1) < dataLength)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n2]);
outcount += 1;
}
/*
* if we have all three bytes available, then their encoding is spread
* out over four characters
*/
if((x+2) < dataLength)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n3]);
outcount += 1;
}
/* Breaking up the line so it's easier to copy and paste */
int curr_line = (outcount/80);
if( curr_line != line )
{
line = curr_line;
putchar_fcptr((int)'\r');
putchar_fcptr((int)'\n');
}
}
/*
* create and add padding that is required if we did not have a multiple of 3
* number of characters available
*/
if (padCount > 0)
{
for (; padCount < 3; padCount++)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)'=');
}
}
putchar_fcptr((int)'\r');
putchar_fcptr((int)'\n');
}
Here is the test
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(void)
{
char str[] = "test";
datauriBase64EncodeBufferless(putchar, "text/plain;charset=utf-8", str, strlen(str));
return 0;
}
Expected Output: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,dGVzdA==
Here's the one I'm using:
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
static char encoding_table[] = {'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', '+', '/'};
static char *decoding_table = NULL;
static int mod_table[] = {0, 2, 1};
char *base64_encode(const unsigned char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[*output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
return encoded_data;
}
unsigned char *base64_decode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
if (decoding_table == NULL) build_decoding_table();
if (input_length % 4 != 0) return NULL;
*output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (*output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (*output_length)--;
unsigned char *decoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (decoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
}
void build_decoding_table() {
decoding_table = malloc(256);
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char) encoding_table[i]] = i;
}
void base64_cleanup() {
free(decoding_table);
}
Keep in mind that this doesn't do any error-checking while decoding - non base 64 encoded data will get processed.
Here is an optimized version of encoder for the accepted answer, that also supports line-breaking for MIME and other protocols (simlar optimization can be applied to the decoder):
char *base64_encode(const unsigned char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length,
bool addLineBreaks)
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
if (addLineBreaks) *output_length += *output_length / 38; // CRLF after each 76 chars
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
UInt32 octet_a;
UInt32 octet_b;
UInt32 octet_c;
UInt32 triple;
int lineCount = 0;
int sizeMod = size - (size % 3); // check if there is a partial triplet
// adding all octet triplets, before partial last triplet
for (; offset < sizeMod; )
{
octet_a = data[offset++];
octet_b = data[offset++];
octet_c = data[offset++];
triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
if (addLineBreaks)
{
if (++lineCount == 19)
{
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 13;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 10;
lineCount = 0;
}
}
}
// last bytes
if (sizeMod < size)
{
octet_a = data[offset++]; // first octect always added
octet_b = offset < size ? data[offset++] : (UInt32)0; // conditional 2nd octet
octet_c = (UInt32)0; // last character is definitely padded
triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
// add padding '='
sizeMod = size % 3;
// last character is definitely padded
encoded_data[mBufferPos - 1] = (byte)'=';
if (sizeMod == 1) encoded_data[mBufferPos - 2] = (byte)'=';
}
}
I know this question is quite old, but I was getting confused by the amount of solutions provided - each one of them claiming to be faster and better. I put together a project on github to compare the base64 encoders and decoders: https://github.com/gaspardpetit/base64/
At this point, I have not limited myself to C algorithms - if one implementation performs well in C++, it can easily be backported to C. Also tests were conducted using Visual Studio 2015. If somebody wants to update this answer with results from clang/gcc, be my guest.
FASTEST ENCODERS: The two fastest encoder implementations I found were Jouni Malinen's at http://web.mit.edu/freebsd/head/contrib/wpa/src/utils/base64.c and the Apache at https://opensource.apple.com/source/QuickTimeStreamingServer/QuickTimeStreamingServer-452/CommonUtilitiesLib/base64.c.
Here is the time (in microseconds) to encode 32K of data using the different algorithms I have tested up to now:
jounimalinen 25.1544
apache 25.5309
NibbleAndAHalf 38.4165
internetsoftwareconsortium 48.2879
polfosol 48.7955
wikibooks_org_c 51.9659
gnome 74.8188
elegantdice 118.899
libb64 120.601
manuelmartinez 120.801
arduino 126.262
daedalusalpha 126.473
CppCodec 151.866
wikibooks_org_cpp 343.2
adp_gmbh 381.523
LihO 406.693
libcurl 3246.39
user152949 4828.21
(René Nyffenegger's solution, credited in another answer to this question, is listed here as adp_gmbh).
Here is the one from Jouni Malinen that I slightly modified to return a std::string:
/*
* Base64 encoding/decoding (RFC1341)
* Copyright (c) 2005-2011, Jouni Malinen <[email protected]>
*
* This software may be distributed under the terms of the BSD license.
* See README for more details.
*/
// 2016-12-12 - Gaspard Petit : Slightly modified to return a std::string
// instead of a buffer allocated with malloc.
#include <string>
static const unsigned char base64_table[65] =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
/**
* base64_encode - Base64 encode
* @src: Data to be encoded
* @len: Length of the data to be encoded
* @out_len: Pointer to output length variable, or %NULL if not used
* Returns: Allocated buffer of out_len bytes of encoded data,
* or empty string on failure
*/
std::string base64_encode(const unsigned char *src, size_t len)
{
unsigned char *out, *pos;
const unsigned char *end, *in;
size_t olen;
olen = 4*((len + 2) / 3); /* 3-byte blocks to 4-byte */
if (olen < len)
return std::string(); /* integer overflow */
std::string outStr;
outStr.resize(olen);
out = (unsigned char*)&outStr[0];
end = src + len;
in = src;
pos = out;
while (end - in >= 3) {
*pos++ = base64_table[in[0] >> 2];
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[0] & 0x03) << 4) | (in[1] >> 4)];
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[1] & 0x0f) << 2) | (in[2] >> 6)];
*pos++ = base64_table[in[2] & 0x3f];
in += 3;
}
if (end - in) {
*pos++ = base64_table[in[0] >> 2];
if (end - in == 1) {
*pos++ = base64_table[(in[0] & 0x03) << 4];
*pos++ = '=';
}
else {
*pos++ = base64_table[((in[0] & 0x03) << 4) |
(in[1] >> 4)];
*pos++ = base64_table[(in[1] & 0x0f) << 2];
}
*pos++ = '=';
}
return outStr;
}
FASTEST DECODERS: Here are the decoding results and I must admit that I am a bit surprised:
polfosol 45.2335
wikibooks_org_c 74.7347
apache 77.1438
libb64 100.332
gnome 114.511
manuelmartinez 126.579
elegantdice 138.514
daedalusalpha 151.561
jounimalinen 206.163
arduino 335.95
wikibooks_org_cpp 350.437
CppCodec 526.187
internetsoftwareconsortium 862.833
libcurl 1280.27
LihO 1852.4
adp_gmbh 1934.43
user152949 5332.87
Polfosol's snippet from base64 decode snippet in c++ is the fastest by a factor of almost 2x.
Here is the code for the sake of completeness:
static const int B64index[256] = { 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0,
0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 62, 63, 62, 62, 63, 52, 53, 54, 55,
56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 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, 0,
0, 0, 0, 63, 0, 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 };
std::string b64decode(const void* data, const size_t len)
{
unsigned char* p = (unsigned char*)data;
int pad = len > 0 && (len % 4 || p[len - 1] == '=');
const size_t L = ((len + 3) / 4 - pad) * 4;
std::string str(L / 4 * 3 + pad, '\0');
for (size_t i = 0, j = 0; i < L; i += 4)
{
int n = B64index[p[i]] << 18 | B64index[p[i + 1]] << 12 | B64index[p[i + 2]] << 6 | B64index[p[i + 3]];
str[j++] = n >> 16;
str[j++] = n >> 8 & 0xFF;
str[j++] = n & 0xFF;
}
if (pad)
{
int n = B64index[p[L]] << 18 | B64index[p[L + 1]] << 12;
str[str.size() - 1] = n >> 16;
if (len > L + 2 && p[L + 2] != '=')
{
n |= B64index[p[L + 2]] << 6;
str.push_back(n >> 8 & 0xFF);
}
}
return str;
}
Here's the decoder I've been using for years...
static const char table[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
static const int BASE64_INPUT_SIZE = 57;
BOOL isbase64(char c)
{
return c && strchr(table, c) != NULL;
}
inline char value(char c)
{
const char *p = strchr(table, c);
if(p) {
return p-table;
} else {
return 0;
}
}
int UnBase64(unsigned char *dest, const unsigned char *src, int srclen)
{
*dest = 0;
if(*src == 0)
{
return 0;
}
unsigned char *p = dest;
do
{
char a = value(src[0]);
char b = value(src[1]);
char c = value(src[2]);
char d = value(src[3]);
*p++ = (a << 2) | (b >> 4);
*p++ = (b << 4) | (c >> 2);
*p++ = (c << 6) | d;
if(!isbase64(src[1]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[2]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[3]))
{
p--;
break;
}
src += 4;
while(*src && (*src == 13 || *src == 10)) src++;
}
while(srclen-= 4);
*p = 0;
return p-dest;
}
I needed C++ implementation working on std::string. None of answers satisfied my needs, I needed simple two-function solution for encoding and decoding, but I was too lazy to write my own code, so I found this:
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/cpp/common/base64.html
Credits for code go to René Nyffenegger.
Putting the code below in case the site goes down:
base64.cpp
/*
base64.cpp and base64.h
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 René Nyffenegger
This source code is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the author be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.
Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:
1. The origin of this source code must not be misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original source code. If you use this source code
in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original source code.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
René Nyffenegger [email protected]
*/
#include "base64.h"
#include <iostream>
static const std::string base64_chars =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
"0123456789+/";
static inline bool is_base64(unsigned char c) {
return (isalnum(c) || (c == '+') || (c == '/'));
}
std::string base64_encode(unsigned char const* bytes_to_encode, unsigned int in_len) {
std::string ret;
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
unsigned char char_array_3[3];
unsigned char char_array_4[4];
while (in_len--) {
char_array_3[i++] = *(bytes_to_encode++);
if (i == 3) {
char_array_4[0] = (char_array_3[0] & 0xfc) >> 2;
char_array_4[1] = ((char_array_3[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((char_array_3[1] & 0xf0) >> 4);
char_array_4[2] = ((char_array_3[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((char_array_3[2] & 0xc0) >> 6);
char_array_4[3] = char_array_3[2] & 0x3f;
for(i = 0; (i <4) ; i++)
ret += base64_chars[char_array_4[i]];
i = 0;
}
}
if (i)
{
for(j = i; j < 3; j++)
char_array_3[j] = '\0';
char_array_4[0] = (char_array_3[0] & 0xfc) >> 2;
char_array_4[1] = ((char_array_3[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((char_array_3[1] & 0xf0) >> 4);
char_array_4[2] = ((char_array_3[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((char_array_3[2] & 0xc0) >> 6);
char_array_4[3] = char_array_3[2] & 0x3f;
for (j = 0; (j < i + 1); j++)
ret += base64_chars[char_array_4[j]];
while((i++ < 3))
ret += '=';
}
return ret;
}
std::string base64_decode(std::string const& encoded_string) {
int in_len = encoded_string.size();
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
int in_ = 0;
unsigned char char_array_4[4], char_array_3[3];
std::string ret;
while (in_len-- && ( encoded_string[in_] != '=') && is_base64(encoded_string[in_])) {
char_array_4[i++] = encoded_string[in_]; in_++;
if (i ==4) {
for (i = 0; i <4; i++)
char_array_4[i] = base64_chars.find(char_array_4[i]);
char_array_3[0] = (char_array_4[0] << 2) + ((char_array_4[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
char_array_3[1] = ((char_array_4[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3c) >> 2);
char_array_3[2] = ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3) << 6) + char_array_4[3];
for (i = 0; (i < 3); i++)
ret += char_array_3[i];
i = 0;
}
}
if (i) {
for (j = i; j <4; j++)
char_array_4[j] = 0;
for (j = 0; j <4; j++)
char_array_4[j] = base64_chars.find(char_array_4[j]);
char_array_3[0] = (char_array_4[0] << 2) + ((char_array_4[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
char_array_3[1] = ((char_array_4[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3c) >> 2);
char_array_3[2] = ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3) << 6) + char_array_4[3];
for (j = 0; (j < i - 1); j++) ret += char_array_3[j];
}
return ret;
}
base64.h
#include <string>
std::string base64_encode(unsigned char const* , unsigned int len);
std::string base64_decode(std::string const& s);
Usage
const std::string s = "test";
std::string encoded = base64_encode(reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(s.c_str()), s.length());
std::string decoded = base64_decode(encoded);
GNU coreutils has it in lib/base64. It's a little bloated but deals with stuff like EBCDIC. You can also play around on your own, e.g.,
char base64_digit (n) unsigned n; {
if (n < 10) return n - '0';
else if (n < 10 + 26) return n - 'a';
else if (n < 10 + 26 + 26) return n - 'A';
else assert(0);
return 0;
}
unsigned char base64_decode_digit(char c) {
switch (c) {
case '=' : return 62;
case '.' : return 63;
default :
if (isdigit(c)) return c - '0';
else if (islower(c)) return c - 'a' + 10;
else if (isupper(c)) return c - 'A' + 10 + 26;
else assert(0);
}
return 0xff;
}
unsigned base64_decode(char *s) {
char *p;
unsigned n = 0;
for (p = s; *p; p++)
n = 64 * n + base64_decode_digit(*p);
return n;
}
Know ye all persons by these presents that you should not confuse "playing around on your own" with "implementing a standard." Yeesh.
But you can also do it in openssl (openssl enc command does it....), look at the BIO_f_base64() function
libb64 has both C and C++ APIs. It is lightweight and perhaps the fastest publicly available implementation. It's also a dedicated stand-alone base64 encoding library, which can be nice if you don't need all the other stuff that comes from using a larger library such as OpenSSL or glib.
If you want to find a workable C solution,
I believe you need this.
https://github.com/littlstar/b64.c
#include <stdio.h>
#include <string.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include "b64.h"
int
main (void) {
unsigned char *str = "brian the monkey and bradley the kinkajou are friends";
char *enc = b64_encode(str, strlen(str));
printf("%s\n", enc); // YnJpYW4gdGhlIG1vbmtleSBhbmQgYnJhZGxleSB0aGUga2lua2Fqb3UgYXJlIGZyaWVuZHM=
char *dec = b64_decode(enc, strlen(enc));
printf("%s\n", dec); // brian the monkey and bradley the kinkajou are friends
free(enc);
free(dec);
return 0;
}
The EVP_EncodeBlock and EVP_DecodeBlock functions make it very easy:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <openssl/evp.h>
char *base64(const unsigned char *input, int length) {
const int pl = 4*((length+2)/3);
char *output = calloc(pl+1, 1); //+1 for the terminating null that EVP_EncodeBlock adds on
const int ol = EVP_EncodeBlock(output, input, length);
if (ol != pl) { fprintf(stderr, "Whoops, encode predicted %d but we got %d\n", pl, ol); }
return output;
}
unsigned char *decode64(const char *input, int length) {
const int pl = 3*length/4;
unsigned char *output = calloc(pl+1, 1);
const int ol = EVP_DecodeBlock(output, input, length);
if (pl != ol) { fprintf(stderr, "Whoops, decode predicted %d but we got %d\n", pl, ol); }
return output;
}
GNU coreutils has it in lib/base64. It's a little bloated but deals with stuff like EBCDIC. You can also play around on your own, e.g.,
char base64_digit (n) unsigned n; {
if (n < 10) return n - '0';
else if (n < 10 + 26) return n - 'a';
else if (n < 10 + 26 + 26) return n - 'A';
else assert(0);
return 0;
}
unsigned char base64_decode_digit(char c) {
switch (c) {
case '=' : return 62;
case '.' : return 63;
default :
if (isdigit(c)) return c - '0';
else if (islower(c)) return c - 'a' + 10;
else if (isupper(c)) return c - 'A' + 10 + 26;
else assert(0);
}
return 0xff;
}
unsigned base64_decode(char *s) {
char *p;
unsigned n = 0;
for (p = s; *p; p++)
n = 64 * n + base64_decode_digit(*p);
return n;
}
Know ye all persons by these presents that you should not confuse "playing around on your own" with "implementing a standard." Yeesh.
Here's the decoder I've been using for years...
static const char table[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
static const int BASE64_INPUT_SIZE = 57;
BOOL isbase64(char c)
{
return c && strchr(table, c) != NULL;
}
inline char value(char c)
{
const char *p = strchr(table, c);
if(p) {
return p-table;
} else {
return 0;
}
}
int UnBase64(unsigned char *dest, const unsigned char *src, int srclen)
{
*dest = 0;
if(*src == 0)
{
return 0;
}
unsigned char *p = dest;
do
{
char a = value(src[0]);
char b = value(src[1]);
char c = value(src[2]);
char d = value(src[3]);
*p++ = (a << 2) | (b >> 4);
*p++ = (b << 4) | (c >> 2);
*p++ = (c << 6) | d;
if(!isbase64(src[1]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[2]))
{
p -= 2;
break;
}
else if(!isbase64(src[3]))
{
p--;
break;
}
src += 4;
while(*src && (*src == 13 || *src == 10)) src++;
}
while(srclen-= 4);
*p = 0;
return p-dest;
}
The EVP_EncodeBlock and EVP_DecodeBlock functions make it very easy:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <openssl/evp.h>
char *base64(const unsigned char *input, int length) {
const int pl = 4*((length+2)/3);
char *output = calloc(pl+1, 1); //+1 for the terminating null that EVP_EncodeBlock adds on
const int ol = EVP_EncodeBlock(output, input, length);
if (ol != pl) { fprintf(stderr, "Whoops, encode predicted %d but we got %d\n", pl, ol); }
return output;
}
unsigned char *decode64(const char *input, int length) {
const int pl = 3*length/4;
unsigned char *output = calloc(pl+1, 1);
const int ol = EVP_DecodeBlock(output, input, length);
if (pl != ol) { fprintf(stderr, "Whoops, decode predicted %d but we got %d\n", pl, ol); }
return output;
}
But you can also do it in openssl (openssl enc command does it....), look at the BIO_f_base64() function
glib has functions for base64 encoding: https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-Base64-Encoding.html
Here is an optimized version of encoder for the accepted answer, that also supports line-breaking for MIME and other protocols (simlar optimization can be applied to the decoder):
char *base64_encode(const unsigned char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length,
bool addLineBreaks)
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
if (addLineBreaks) *output_length += *output_length / 38; // CRLF after each 76 chars
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
UInt32 octet_a;
UInt32 octet_b;
UInt32 octet_c;
UInt32 triple;
int lineCount = 0;
int sizeMod = size - (size % 3); // check if there is a partial triplet
// adding all octet triplets, before partial last triplet
for (; offset < sizeMod; )
{
octet_a = data[offset++];
octet_b = data[offset++];
octet_c = data[offset++];
triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
if (addLineBreaks)
{
if (++lineCount == 19)
{
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 13;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = 10;
lineCount = 0;
}
}
}
// last bytes
if (sizeMod < size)
{
octet_a = data[offset++]; // first octect always added
octet_b = offset < size ? data[offset++] : (UInt32)0; // conditional 2nd octet
octet_c = (UInt32)0; // last character is definitely padded
triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[mBufferPos++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
// add padding '='
sizeMod = size % 3;
// last character is definitely padded
encoded_data[mBufferPos - 1] = (byte)'=';
if (sizeMod == 1) encoded_data[mBufferPos - 2] = (byte)'=';
}
}
GNU coreutils has it in lib/base64. It's a little bloated but deals with stuff like EBCDIC. You can also play around on your own, e.g.,
char base64_digit (n) unsigned n; {
if (n < 10) return n - '0';
else if (n < 10 + 26) return n - 'a';
else if (n < 10 + 26 + 26) return n - 'A';
else assert(0);
return 0;
}
unsigned char base64_decode_digit(char c) {
switch (c) {
case '=' : return 62;
case '.' : return 63;
default :
if (isdigit(c)) return c - '0';
else if (islower(c)) return c - 'a' + 10;
else if (isupper(c)) return c - 'A' + 10 + 26;
else assert(0);
}
return 0xff;
}
unsigned base64_decode(char *s) {
char *p;
unsigned n = 0;
for (p = s; *p; p++)
n = 64 * n + base64_decode_digit(*p);
return n;
}
Know ye all persons by these presents that you should not confuse "playing around on your own" with "implementing a standard." Yeesh.
This is a decoder that is specifically written to avoid the need for a buffer, by writing directly to a putchar function. This is based on wikibook's implementation https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Algorithm_Implementation/Miscellaneous/Base64#C
This is not as easy to use as other options above. However, it can be of use in embedded systems, where you want to dump a large file without allocating another large buffer to store the resultant base64 datauri string. (It's a pity that datauri does not let you specify the filename).
void datauriBase64EncodeBufferless(int (*putchar_fcptr)(int), const char* type_strptr, const void* data_buf, const size_t dataLength)
{
const char base64chars[] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
const uint8_t *data = (const uint8_t *)data_buf;
size_t x = 0;
uint32_t n = 0;
int padCount = dataLength % 3;
uint8_t n0, n1, n2, n3;
size_t outcount = 0;
size_t line = 0;
putchar_fcptr((int)'d');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)'t');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)':');
outcount += 5;
while (*type_strptr != '\0')
{
putchar_fcptr((int)*type_strptr);
type_strptr++;
outcount++;
}
putchar_fcptr((int)';');
putchar_fcptr((int)'b');
putchar_fcptr((int)'a');
putchar_fcptr((int)'s');
putchar_fcptr((int)'e');
putchar_fcptr((int)'6');
putchar_fcptr((int)'4');
putchar_fcptr((int)',');
outcount += 8;
/* increment over the length of the string, three characters at a time */
for (x = 0; x < dataLength; x += 3)
{
/* these three 8-bit (ASCII) characters become one 24-bit number */
n = ((uint32_t)data[x]) << 16; //parenthesis needed, compiler depending on flags can do the shifting before conversion to uint32_t, resulting to 0
if((x+1) < dataLength)
n += ((uint32_t)data[x+1]) << 8;//parenthesis needed, compiler depending on flags can do the shifting before conversion to uint32_t, resulting to 0
if((x+2) < dataLength)
n += data[x+2];
/* this 24-bit number gets separated into four 6-bit numbers */
n0 = (uint8_t)(n >> 18) & 63;
n1 = (uint8_t)(n >> 12) & 63;
n2 = (uint8_t)(n >> 6) & 63;
n3 = (uint8_t)n & 63;
/*
* if we have one byte available, then its encoding is spread
* out over two characters
*/
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n0]);
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n1]);
outcount += 2;
/*
* if we have only two bytes available, then their encoding is
* spread out over three chars
*/
if((x+1) < dataLength)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n2]);
outcount += 1;
}
/*
* if we have all three bytes available, then their encoding is spread
* out over four characters
*/
if((x+2) < dataLength)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)base64chars[n3]);
outcount += 1;
}
/* Breaking up the line so it's easier to copy and paste */
int curr_line = (outcount/80);
if( curr_line != line )
{
line = curr_line;
putchar_fcptr((int)'\r');
putchar_fcptr((int)'\n');
}
}
/*
* create and add padding that is required if we did not have a multiple of 3
* number of characters available
*/
if (padCount > 0)
{
for (; padCount < 3; padCount++)
{
putchar_fcptr((int)'=');
}
}
putchar_fcptr((int)'\r');
putchar_fcptr((int)'\n');
}
Here is the test
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <string.h>
int main(void)
{
char str[] = "test";
datauriBase64EncodeBufferless(putchar, "text/plain;charset=utf-8", str, strlen(str));
return 0;
}
Expected Output: data:text/plain;charset=utf-8;base64,dGVzdA==
Here's my solution using OpenSSL.
/* A BASE-64 ENCODER AND DECODER USING OPENSSL */
#include <openssl/pem.h>
#include <string.h> //Only needed for strlen().
char *base64encode (const void *b64_encode_this, int encode_this_many_bytes){
BIO *b64_bio, *mem_bio; //Declares two OpenSSL BIOs: a base64 filter and a memory BIO.
BUF_MEM *mem_bio_mem_ptr; //Pointer to a "memory BIO" structure holding our base64 data.
b64_bio = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64()); //Initialize our base64 filter BIO.
mem_bio = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem()); //Initialize our memory sink BIO.
BIO_push(b64_bio, mem_bio); //Link the BIOs by creating a filter-sink BIO chain.
BIO_set_flags(b64_bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //No newlines every 64 characters or less.
BIO_write(b64_bio, b64_encode_this, encode_this_many_bytes); //Records base64 encoded data.
BIO_flush(b64_bio); //Flush data. Necessary for b64 encoding, because of pad characters.
BIO_get_mem_ptr(mem_bio, &mem_bio_mem_ptr); //Store address of mem_bio's memory structure.
BIO_set_close(mem_bio, BIO_NOCLOSE); //Permit access to mem_ptr after BIOs are destroyed.
BIO_free_all(b64_bio); //Destroys all BIOs in chain, starting with b64 (i.e. the 1st one).
BUF_MEM_grow(mem_bio_mem_ptr, (*mem_bio_mem_ptr).length + 1); //Makes space for end null.
(*mem_bio_mem_ptr).data[(*mem_bio_mem_ptr).length] = '\0'; //Adds null-terminator to tail.
return (*mem_bio_mem_ptr).data; //Returns base-64 encoded data. (See: "buf_mem_st" struct).
}
char *base64decode (const void *b64_decode_this, int decode_this_many_bytes){
BIO *b64_bio, *mem_bio; //Declares two OpenSSL BIOs: a base64 filter and a memory BIO.
char *base64_decoded = calloc( (decode_this_many_bytes*3)/4+1, sizeof(char) ); //+1 = null.
b64_bio = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64()); //Initialize our base64 filter BIO.
mem_bio = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem()); //Initialize our memory source BIO.
BIO_write(mem_bio, b64_decode_this, decode_this_many_bytes); //Base64 data saved in source.
BIO_push(b64_bio, mem_bio); //Link the BIOs by creating a filter-source BIO chain.
BIO_set_flags(b64_bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //Don't require trailing newlines.
int decoded_byte_index = 0; //Index where the next base64_decoded byte should be written.
while ( 0 < BIO_read(b64_bio, base64_decoded+decoded_byte_index, 1) ){ //Read byte-by-byte.
decoded_byte_index++; //Increment the index until read of BIO decoded data is complete.
} //Once we're done reading decoded data, BIO_read returns -1 even though there's no error.
BIO_free_all(b64_bio); //Destroys all BIOs in chain, starting with b64 (i.e. the 1st one).
return base64_decoded; //Returns base-64 decoded data with trailing null terminator.
}
/*Here's one way to base64 encode/decode using the base64encode() and base64decode functions.*/
int main(void){
char data_to_encode[] = "Base64 encode this string!"; //The string we will base-64 encode.
int bytes_to_encode = strlen(data_to_encode); //Number of bytes in string to base64 encode.
char *base64_encoded = base64encode(data_to_encode, bytes_to_encode); //Base-64 encoding.
int bytes_to_decode = strlen(base64_encoded); //Number of bytes in string to base64 decode.
char *base64_decoded = base64decode(base64_encoded, bytes_to_decode); //Base-64 decoding.
printf("Original character string is: %s\n", data_to_encode); //Prints our initial string.
printf("Base-64 encoded string is: %s\n", base64_encoded); //Prints base64 encoded string.
printf("Base-64 decoded string is: %s\n", base64_decoded); //Prints base64 decoded string.
free(base64_encoded); //Frees up the memory holding our base64 encoded data.
free(base64_decoded); //Frees up the memory holding our base64 decoded data.
}
glib has functions for base64 encoding: https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-Base64-Encoding.html
Small improvement to the code from ryyst (who got the most votes) is to not use dynamically allocated decoding table but rather static const precomputed table. This eliminates the use of pointer and initialization of the table, and also avoids memory leakage if one forgets to clean up the decoding table with base64_cleanup() (by the way, in base64_cleanup(), after calling free(decoding_table), one should have decoding_table=NULL, otherwise accidentally calling base64_decode after base64_cleanup() will crash or cause undetermined behavior). Another solution could be to use std::unique_ptr...but I'm satisfied with just having const char[256] on the stack and avoid using pointers alltogether - the code looks cleaner and shorter this way.
The decoding table is computed as follows:
const char encoding_table[] = {
'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', '+', '/' };
unsigned char decoding_table[256];
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
decoding_table[i] = '\0';
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char)encoding_table[i]] = i;
for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++)
cout << "0x" << (int(decoding_table[i]) < 16 ? "0" : "") << hex << int(decoding_table[i]) << (i != 255 ? "," : "") << ((i+1) % 16 == 0 ? '\n' : '\0');
cin.ignore();
and the modified code I am using is:
static const char encoding_table[] = {
'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', '+', '/' };
static const unsigned char decoding_table[256] = {
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3e, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x3f,
0x34, 0x35, 0x36, 0x37, 0x38, 0x39, 0x3a, 0x3b, 0x3c, 0x3d, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x01, 0x02, 0x03, 0x04, 0x05, 0x06, 0x07, 0x08, 0x09, 0x0a, 0x0b, 0x0c, 0x0d, 0x0e,
0x0f, 0x10, 0x11, 0x12, 0x13, 0x14, 0x15, 0x16, 0x17, 0x18, 0x19, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x1a, 0x1b, 0x1c, 0x1d, 0x1e, 0x1f, 0x20, 0x21, 0x22, 0x23, 0x24, 0x25, 0x26, 0x27, 0x28,
0x29, 0x2a, 0x2b, 0x2c, 0x2d, 0x2e, 0x2f, 0x30, 0x31, 0x32, 0x33, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00,
0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00, 0x00 };
char* base64_encode(const unsigned char *data, size_t input_length, size_t &output_length) {
const int mod_table[] = { 0, 2, 1 };
output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = (char*)malloc(output_length);
if (encoded_data == nullptr)
return nullptr;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
return encoded_data;
};
unsigned char* base64_decode(const char *data, size_t input_length, size_t &output_length) {
if (input_length % 4 != 0)
return nullptr;
output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (output_length)--;
unsigned char* decoded_data = (unsigned char*)malloc(output_length);
if (decoded_data == nullptr)
return nullptr;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
};
This solution is based on schulwitz answer (encoding/decoding using OpenSSL), but it is for C++ (well, original question was about C, but there are already another C++ answers here) and it uses error checking (so it's safer to use):
#include <openssl/bio.h>
std::string base64_encode(const std::string &input)
{
BIO *p_bio_b64 = nullptr;
BIO *p_bio_mem = nullptr;
try
{
// make chain: p_bio_b64 <--> p_bio_mem
p_bio_b64 = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64());
if (!p_bio_b64) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_new failed"); }
BIO_set_flags(p_bio_b64, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //No newlines every 64 characters or less
p_bio_mem = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem());
if (!p_bio_mem) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_new failed"); }
BIO_push(p_bio_b64, p_bio_mem);
// write input to chain
// write sequence: input -->> p_bio_b64 -->> p_bio_mem
if (BIO_write(p_bio_b64, input.c_str(), input.size()) <= 0)
{ throw std::runtime_error("BIO_write failed"); }
if (BIO_flush(p_bio_b64) <= 0)
{ throw std::runtime_error("BIO_flush failed"); }
// get result
char *p_encoded_data = nullptr;
auto encoded_len = BIO_get_mem_data(p_bio_mem, &p_encoded_data);
if (!p_encoded_data) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_get_mem_data failed"); }
std::string result(p_encoded_data, encoded_len);
// clean
BIO_free_all(p_bio_b64);
return result;
}
catch (...)
{
if (p_bio_b64) { BIO_free_all(p_bio_b64); }
throw;
}
}
std::string base64_decode(const std::string &input)
{
BIO *p_bio_mem = nullptr;
BIO *p_bio_b64 = nullptr;
try
{
// make chain: p_bio_b64 <--> p_bio_mem
p_bio_b64 = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64());
if (!p_bio_b64) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_new failed"); }
BIO_set_flags(p_bio_b64, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //Don't require trailing newlines
p_bio_mem = BIO_new_mem_buf((void*)input.c_str(), input.length());
if (!p_bio_mem) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_new failed"); }
BIO_push(p_bio_b64, p_bio_mem);
// read result from chain
// read sequence (reverse to write): buf <<-- p_bio_b64 <<-- p_bio_mem
std::vector<char> buf((input.size()*3/4)+1);
std::string result;
for (;;)
{
auto nread = BIO_read(p_bio_b64, buf.data(), buf.size());
if (nread < 0) { throw std::runtime_error("BIO_read failed"); }
if (nread == 0) { break; } // eof
result.append(buf.data(), nread);
}
// clean
BIO_free_all(p_bio_b64);
return result;
}
catch (...)
{
if (p_bio_b64) { BIO_free_all(p_bio_b64); }
throw;
}
}
Note that base64_decode returns empty string, if input is incorrect base64 sequence (openssl works in such way).
I fix @ryyst answer's bug and this is a url safe version:
#include <stdio.h>
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <string.h>
static char encoding_table[] = {'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', '-', '_'};
static char *decoding_table = NULL;
static int mod_table[] = {0, 2, 1};
void build_decoding_table() {
decoding_table = malloc(256);
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char) encoding_table[i]] = i;
}
void base64_cleanup() {
free(decoding_table);
}
char *base64_encode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
//int i=0;
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[*output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
*output_length = *output_length -2 + mod_table[input_length % 3];
encoded_data[*output_length] =0;
return encoded_data;
}
unsigned char *base64_decode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
if (decoding_table == NULL) build_decoding_table();
if (input_length % 4 != 0) return NULL;
*output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (*output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (*output_length)--;
unsigned char *decoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (decoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
}
int main(){
const char * data = "Hello World! ??!??!";
size_t input_size = strlen(data);
printf("Input size: %ld \n",input_size);
char * encoded_data = base64_encode(data, input_size, &input_size);
printf("After size: %ld \n",input_size);
printf("Encoded Data is: %s \n",encoded_data);
size_t decode_size = strlen(encoded_data);
printf("Output size: %ld \n",decode_size);
unsigned char * decoded_data = base64_decode(encoded_data, decode_size, &decode_size);
printf("After size: %ld \n",decode_size);
printf("Decoded Data is: %s \n",decoded_data);
return 0;
}
But you can also do it in openssl (openssl enc command does it....), look at the BIO_f_base64() function
I needed C++ implementation working on std::string. None of answers satisfied my needs, I needed simple two-function solution for encoding and decoding, but I was too lazy to write my own code, so I found this:
http://www.adp-gmbh.ch/cpp/common/base64.html
Credits for code go to René Nyffenegger.
Putting the code below in case the site goes down:
base64.cpp
/*
base64.cpp and base64.h
Copyright (C) 2004-2008 René Nyffenegger
This source code is provided 'as-is', without any express or implied
warranty. In no event will the author be held liable for any damages
arising from the use of this software.
Permission is granted to anyone to use this software for any purpose,
including commercial applications, and to alter it and redistribute it
freely, subject to the following restrictions:
1. The origin of this source code must not be misrepresented; you must not
claim that you wrote the original source code. If you use this source code
in a product, an acknowledgment in the product documentation would be
appreciated but is not required.
2. Altered source versions must be plainly marked as such, and must not be
misrepresented as being the original source code.
3. This notice may not be removed or altered from any source distribution.
René Nyffenegger [email protected]
*/
#include "base64.h"
#include <iostream>
static const std::string base64_chars =
"ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
"abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz"
"0123456789+/";
static inline bool is_base64(unsigned char c) {
return (isalnum(c) || (c == '+') || (c == '/'));
}
std::string base64_encode(unsigned char const* bytes_to_encode, unsigned int in_len) {
std::string ret;
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
unsigned char char_array_3[3];
unsigned char char_array_4[4];
while (in_len--) {
char_array_3[i++] = *(bytes_to_encode++);
if (i == 3) {
char_array_4[0] = (char_array_3[0] & 0xfc) >> 2;
char_array_4[1] = ((char_array_3[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((char_array_3[1] & 0xf0) >> 4);
char_array_4[2] = ((char_array_3[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((char_array_3[2] & 0xc0) >> 6);
char_array_4[3] = char_array_3[2] & 0x3f;
for(i = 0; (i <4) ; i++)
ret += base64_chars[char_array_4[i]];
i = 0;
}
}
if (i)
{
for(j = i; j < 3; j++)
char_array_3[j] = '\0';
char_array_4[0] = (char_array_3[0] & 0xfc) >> 2;
char_array_4[1] = ((char_array_3[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((char_array_3[1] & 0xf0) >> 4);
char_array_4[2] = ((char_array_3[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((char_array_3[2] & 0xc0) >> 6);
char_array_4[3] = char_array_3[2] & 0x3f;
for (j = 0; (j < i + 1); j++)
ret += base64_chars[char_array_4[j]];
while((i++ < 3))
ret += '=';
}
return ret;
}
std::string base64_decode(std::string const& encoded_string) {
int in_len = encoded_string.size();
int i = 0;
int j = 0;
int in_ = 0;
unsigned char char_array_4[4], char_array_3[3];
std::string ret;
while (in_len-- && ( encoded_string[in_] != '=') && is_base64(encoded_string[in_])) {
char_array_4[i++] = encoded_string[in_]; in_++;
if (i ==4) {
for (i = 0; i <4; i++)
char_array_4[i] = base64_chars.find(char_array_4[i]);
char_array_3[0] = (char_array_4[0] << 2) + ((char_array_4[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
char_array_3[1] = ((char_array_4[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3c) >> 2);
char_array_3[2] = ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3) << 6) + char_array_4[3];
for (i = 0; (i < 3); i++)
ret += char_array_3[i];
i = 0;
}
}
if (i) {
for (j = i; j <4; j++)
char_array_4[j] = 0;
for (j = 0; j <4; j++)
char_array_4[j] = base64_chars.find(char_array_4[j]);
char_array_3[0] = (char_array_4[0] << 2) + ((char_array_4[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
char_array_3[1] = ((char_array_4[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3c) >> 2);
char_array_3[2] = ((char_array_4[2] & 0x3) << 6) + char_array_4[3];
for (j = 0; (j < i - 1); j++) ret += char_array_3[j];
}
return ret;
}
base64.h
#include <string>
std::string base64_encode(unsigned char const* , unsigned int len);
std::string base64_decode(std::string const& s);
Usage
const std::string s = "test";
std::string encoded = base64_encode(reinterpret_cast<const unsigned char*>(s.c_str()), s.length());
std::string decoded = base64_decode(encoded);
libb64 has both C and C++ APIs. It is lightweight and perhaps the fastest publicly available implementation. It's also a dedicated stand-alone base64 encoding library, which can be nice if you don't need all the other stuff that comes from using a larger library such as OpenSSL or glib.
I wrote one for use with C++, it's very fast, works with streams, free, and open source:
https://tmplusplus.svn.sourceforge.net/svnroot/tmplusplus/trunk/src/
Feel free to use it if it fits your purpose.
Edit: Added code inline by request.
The performance boost is acieved by using a lookup table for encoding and decoding. _UINT8 is an unsigned char on most OS's.
/** Static Base64 character encoding lookup table */
const char CBase64::encodeCharacterTable[65] = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";
/** Static Base64 character decoding lookup table */
const char CBase64::decodeCharacterTable[256] = {
-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-1,-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,-1,-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};
/*!
\brief Encodes binary data to base 64 character data
\param in The data to encode
\param out The encoded data as characters
*/
void CBase64::Encode(std::istream &in, std::ostringstream &out)
{
char buff1[3];
char buff2[4];
_UINT8 i=0, j;
while(in.readsome(&buff1[i++], 1))
if (i==3)
{
out << encodeCharacterTable[(buff1[0] & 0xfc) >> 2];
out << encodeCharacterTable[((buff1[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((buff1[1] & 0xf0) >> 4)];
out << encodeCharacterTable[((buff1[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((buff1[2] & 0xc0) >> 6)];
out << encodeCharacterTable[buff1[2] & 0x3f];
i=0;
}
if (--i)
{
for(j=i;j<3;j++) buff1[j] = '\0';
buff2[0] = (buff1[0] & 0xfc) >> 2;
buff2[1] = ((buff1[0] & 0x03) << 4) + ((buff1[1] & 0xf0) >> 4);
buff2[2] = ((buff1[1] & 0x0f) << 2) + ((buff1[2] & 0xc0) >> 6);
buff2[3] = buff1[2] & 0x3f;
for (j=0;j<(i+1);j++) out << encodeCharacterTable[buff2[j]];
while(i++<3) out << '=';
}
}
/*!
\brief Decodes base 64 character data to binary data
\param in The character data to decode
\param out The decoded data
*/
void CBase64::Decode(std::istringstream &in, std::ostream &out)
{
char buff1[4];
char buff2[4];
_UINT8 i=0, j;
while(in.readsome(&buff2[i], 1) && buff2[i] != '=')
{
if (++i==4)
{
for (i=0;i!=4;i++)
buff2[i] = decodeCharacterTable[buff2[i]];
out << (char)((buff2[0] << 2) + ((buff2[1] & 0x30) >> 4));
out << (char)(((buff2[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((buff2[2] & 0x3c) >> 2));
out << (char)(((buff2[2] & 0x3) << 6) + buff2[3]);
i=0;
}
}
if (i)
{
for (j=i;j<4;j++) buff2[j] = '\0';
for (j=0;j<4;j++) buff2[j] = decodeCharacterTable[buff2[j]];
buff1[0] = (buff2[0] << 2) + ((buff2[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
buff1[1] = ((buff2[1] & 0xf) << 4) + ((buff2[2] & 0x3c) >> 2);
buff1[2] = ((buff2[2] & 0x3) << 6) + buff2[3];
for (j=0;j<(i-1); j++) out << (char)buff1[j];
}
}
In case people need a c++ solution, I put this OpenSSL solution together (for both encode and decode). You'll need to link with the "crypto" library (which is OpenSSL). This has been checked for leaks with valgrind (although you could add some additional error checking code to make it a bit better - I know at least the write function should check for return value).
#include <openssl/bio.h>
#include <openssl/evp.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
string base64_encode( const string &str ){
BIO *base64_filter = BIO_new( BIO_f_base64() );
BIO_set_flags( base64_filter, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
BIO *bio = BIO_new( BIO_s_mem() );
BIO_set_flags( bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
bio = BIO_push( base64_filter, bio );
BIO_write( bio, str.c_str(), str.length() );
BIO_flush( bio );
char *new_data;
long bytes_written = BIO_get_mem_data( bio, &new_data );
string result( new_data, bytes_written );
BIO_free_all( bio );
return result;
}
string base64_decode( const string &str ){
BIO *bio, *base64_filter, *bio_out;
char inbuf[512];
int inlen;
base64_filter = BIO_new( BIO_f_base64() );
BIO_set_flags( base64_filter, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
bio = BIO_new_mem_buf( (void*)str.c_str(), str.length() );
bio = BIO_push( base64_filter, bio );
bio_out = BIO_new( BIO_s_mem() );
while( (inlen = BIO_read(bio, inbuf, 512)) > 0 ){
BIO_write( bio_out, inbuf, inlen );
}
BIO_flush( bio_out );
char *new_data;
long bytes_written = BIO_get_mem_data( bio_out, &new_data );
string result( new_data, bytes_written );
BIO_free_all( bio );
BIO_free_all( bio_out );
return result;
}
Here's my solution using OpenSSL.
/* A BASE-64 ENCODER AND DECODER USING OPENSSL */
#include <openssl/pem.h>
#include <string.h> //Only needed for strlen().
char *base64encode (const void *b64_encode_this, int encode_this_many_bytes){
BIO *b64_bio, *mem_bio; //Declares two OpenSSL BIOs: a base64 filter and a memory BIO.
BUF_MEM *mem_bio_mem_ptr; //Pointer to a "memory BIO" structure holding our base64 data.
b64_bio = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64()); //Initialize our base64 filter BIO.
mem_bio = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem()); //Initialize our memory sink BIO.
BIO_push(b64_bio, mem_bio); //Link the BIOs by creating a filter-sink BIO chain.
BIO_set_flags(b64_bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //No newlines every 64 characters or less.
BIO_write(b64_bio, b64_encode_this, encode_this_many_bytes); //Records base64 encoded data.
BIO_flush(b64_bio); //Flush data. Necessary for b64 encoding, because of pad characters.
BIO_get_mem_ptr(mem_bio, &mem_bio_mem_ptr); //Store address of mem_bio's memory structure.
BIO_set_close(mem_bio, BIO_NOCLOSE); //Permit access to mem_ptr after BIOs are destroyed.
BIO_free_all(b64_bio); //Destroys all BIOs in chain, starting with b64 (i.e. the 1st one).
BUF_MEM_grow(mem_bio_mem_ptr, (*mem_bio_mem_ptr).length + 1); //Makes space for end null.
(*mem_bio_mem_ptr).data[(*mem_bio_mem_ptr).length] = '\0'; //Adds null-terminator to tail.
return (*mem_bio_mem_ptr).data; //Returns base-64 encoded data. (See: "buf_mem_st" struct).
}
char *base64decode (const void *b64_decode_this, int decode_this_many_bytes){
BIO *b64_bio, *mem_bio; //Declares two OpenSSL BIOs: a base64 filter and a memory BIO.
char *base64_decoded = calloc( (decode_this_many_bytes*3)/4+1, sizeof(char) ); //+1 = null.
b64_bio = BIO_new(BIO_f_base64()); //Initialize our base64 filter BIO.
mem_bio = BIO_new(BIO_s_mem()); //Initialize our memory source BIO.
BIO_write(mem_bio, b64_decode_this, decode_this_many_bytes); //Base64 data saved in source.
BIO_push(b64_bio, mem_bio); //Link the BIOs by creating a filter-source BIO chain.
BIO_set_flags(b64_bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL); //Don't require trailing newlines.
int decoded_byte_index = 0; //Index where the next base64_decoded byte should be written.
while ( 0 < BIO_read(b64_bio, base64_decoded+decoded_byte_index, 1) ){ //Read byte-by-byte.
decoded_byte_index++; //Increment the index until read of BIO decoded data is complete.
} //Once we're done reading decoded data, BIO_read returns -1 even though there's no error.
BIO_free_all(b64_bio); //Destroys all BIOs in chain, starting with b64 (i.e. the 1st one).
return base64_decoded; //Returns base-64 decoded data with trailing null terminator.
}
/*Here's one way to base64 encode/decode using the base64encode() and base64decode functions.*/
int main(void){
char data_to_encode[] = "Base64 encode this string!"; //The string we will base-64 encode.
int bytes_to_encode = strlen(data_to_encode); //Number of bytes in string to base64 encode.
char *base64_encoded = base64encode(data_to_encode, bytes_to_encode); //Base-64 encoding.
int bytes_to_decode = strlen(base64_encoded); //Number of bytes in string to base64 decode.
char *base64_decoded = base64decode(base64_encoded, bytes_to_decode); //Base-64 decoding.
printf("Original character string is: %s\n", data_to_encode); //Prints our initial string.
printf("Base-64 encoded string is: %s\n", base64_encoded); //Prints base64 encoded string.
printf("Base-64 decoded string is: %s\n", base64_decoded); //Prints base64 decoded string.
free(base64_encoded); //Frees up the memory holding our base64 encoded data.
free(base64_decoded); //Frees up the memory holding our base64 decoded data.
}
But you can also do it in openssl (openssl enc command does it....), look at the BIO_f_base64() function
In case people need a c++ solution, I put this OpenSSL solution together (for both encode and decode). You'll need to link with the "crypto" library (which is OpenSSL). This has been checked for leaks with valgrind (although you could add some additional error checking code to make it a bit better - I know at least the write function should check for return value).
#include <openssl/bio.h>
#include <openssl/evp.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
string base64_encode( const string &str ){
BIO *base64_filter = BIO_new( BIO_f_base64() );
BIO_set_flags( base64_filter, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
BIO *bio = BIO_new( BIO_s_mem() );
BIO_set_flags( bio, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
bio = BIO_push( base64_filter, bio );
BIO_write( bio, str.c_str(), str.length() );
BIO_flush( bio );
char *new_data;
long bytes_written = BIO_get_mem_data( bio, &new_data );
string result( new_data, bytes_written );
BIO_free_all( bio );
return result;
}
string base64_decode( const string &str ){
BIO *bio, *base64_filter, *bio_out;
char inbuf[512];
int inlen;
base64_filter = BIO_new( BIO_f_base64() );
BIO_set_flags( base64_filter, BIO_FLAGS_BASE64_NO_NL );
bio = BIO_new_mem_buf( (void*)str.c_str(), str.length() );
bio = BIO_push( base64_filter, bio );
bio_out = BIO_new( BIO_s_mem() );
while( (inlen = BIO_read(bio, inbuf, 512)) > 0 ){
BIO_write( bio_out, inbuf, inlen );
}
BIO_flush( bio_out );
char *new_data;
long bytes_written = BIO_get_mem_data( bio_out, &new_data );
string result( new_data, bytes_written );
BIO_free_all( bio );
BIO_free_all( bio_out );
return result;
}
Here's the one I'm using:
#include <stdint.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
static char encoding_table[] = {'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', '+', '/'};
static char *decoding_table = NULL;
static int mod_table[] = {0, 2, 1};
char *base64_encode(const unsigned char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
*output_length = 4 * ((input_length + 2) / 3);
char *encoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (encoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t octet_a = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_b = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t octet_c = i < input_length ? (unsigned char)data[i++] : 0;
uint32_t triple = (octet_a << 0x10) + (octet_b << 0x08) + octet_c;
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 3 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 2 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 1 * 6) & 0x3F];
encoded_data[j++] = encoding_table[(triple >> 0 * 6) & 0x3F];
}
for (int i = 0; i < mod_table[input_length % 3]; i++)
encoded_data[*output_length - 1 - i] = '=';
return encoded_data;
}
unsigned char *base64_decode(const char *data,
size_t input_length,
size_t *output_length) {
if (decoding_table == NULL) build_decoding_table();
if (input_length % 4 != 0) return NULL;
*output_length = input_length / 4 * 3;
if (data[input_length - 1] == '=') (*output_length)--;
if (data[input_length - 2] == '=') (*output_length)--;
unsigned char *decoded_data = malloc(*output_length);
if (decoded_data == NULL) return NULL;
for (int i = 0, j = 0; i < input_length;) {
uint32_t sextet_a = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_b = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_c = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t sextet_d = data[i] == '=' ? 0 & i++ : decoding_table[data[i++]];
uint32_t triple = (sextet_a << 3 * 6)
+ (sextet_b << 2 * 6)
+ (sextet_c << 1 * 6)
+ (sextet_d << 0 * 6);
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 2 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 1 * 8) & 0xFF;
if (j < *output_length) decoded_data[j++] = (triple >> 0 * 8) & 0xFF;
}
return decoded_data;
}
void build_decoding_table() {
decoding_table = malloc(256);
for (int i = 0; i < 64; i++)
decoding_table[(unsigned char) encoding_table[i]] = i;
}
void base64_cleanup() {
free(decoding_table);
}
Keep in mind that this doesn't do any error-checking while decoding - non base 64 encoded data will get processed.
glib has functions for base64 encoding: https://developer.gnome.org/glib/stable/glib-Base64-Encoding.html
Source: Stackoverflow.com