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Base64 to Hex Converter

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Base64 and hexadecimal are both ways to write raw bytes as printable ASCII, but they hide different detail. Hex shows you every byte cleanly in two digits; Base64 is denser but harder to read. Converting from Base64 to hex is what you do when you are debugging a token, inspecting a key fingerprint, or comparing byte sequences across tools that prefer different encodings.

How the conversion works

  1. 1

    Paste the Base64 string

    Works with standard, URL-safe and padded or unpadded Base64.

  2. 2

    The string is decoded to raw bytes

    Each 4 Base64 characters become 3 bytes.

  3. 3

    Each byte is expressed as two hex digits

    Choose uppercase or lowercase output.

  4. 4

    Read the hex

    Optionally with spaces, `0x` prefixes or continuous.

Worked example

Base64 SGVsbG8= decodes to 5 bytes:

Base64 chars Bytes Hex
SGVs 48 65 6C 48 65 6C
bG8= 6C 6F 6C 6F

So SGVsbG8= in hex is 48 65 6C 6C 6F (the ASCII for Hello).

When hex tells you more than Base64

  • Certificate fingerprints — SHA-1 and SHA-256 fingerprints are canonically shown in hex with colons: AB:CD:.... Converting a Base64-encoded hash to hex lets you match it byte-for-byte.
  • Key material — AES keys, HMAC secrets, Ed25519 private keys are usually logged in hex. Same key in Base64 looks completely different; converting lets you verify it is the same.
  • JWT signatures — The signature segment of a JWT is URL-safe Base64. Converting to hex makes it trivial to compare against an expected value in a debug log.
  • TLS session IDs / handshake data — Wireshark shows them in hex; your application may log them in Base64.

Output format options

Base64:       SGVsbG8=
Hex (raw):    48656C6C6F
Hex (spaced): 48 65 6C 6C 6F
Hex (0x):     0x48 0x65 0x6C 0x6C 0x6F
Hex (colons): 48:65:6C:6C:6F
Hex (C):      \x48\x65\x6C\x6C\x6F

Common gotchas

  • URL-safe Base64 — If input contains - or _, it is the URL-safe variant. This tool accepts both automatically.
  • Padding — Accept Base64 with or without trailing =. Decoders usually tolerate it.
  • Whitespace in pasted input — Line breaks and spaces are stripped before decoding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, significantly. Hex uses 2 characters per byte; Base64 uses about 1.33. So hex is 50% longer than Base64, but every byte is clearly visible in hex and the encoding is case-insensitive.

Yes — use the Hex to Base64 Converter. The byte sequence is preserved in either direction; only the textual representation changes.

Either the input was not actually Base64, had characters from a different alphabet (Crockford Base32, Base58), or was truncated. Check the source; try decoding as raw text first to see if it looks meaningful.

Yes. Both hex and Base64 are round-trip representations of bytes; converting between them preserves the byte sequence exactly.

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