Base32 to file.

Base32 writes binary data with 32 characters, A to Z and 2 to 7, padded with =. It is specified in RFC 4648 (2006) alongside Base64. Its point is that it survives systems that fold case or confuse 0 and O and 1 and l: it has no lowercase, no 0, no 1, no 8 and no 9.

Five bytes are 40 bits, split into eight groups of five bits, each written as one of the 32 characters. The output is 60% larger than the input and is padded with = to a multiple of eight characters. The decoder reads lowercase too, and pads for you when the padding is missing.

TOTP and HOTP secrets, the key behind every authenticator app's QR code; Tor's onion addresses; the names of content in case-insensitive file systems and DNS; and codes people read aloud or type from paper.

Yes, apart from the padding: letters and digits need no escaping, and = only appears at the end. Most tools that put Base32 in a URL leave the padding off, which this encoder can do.

It is 60% larger than the bytes, against Base64's 33%, and that is the cost of case-insensitivity. Base36 is also case-insensitive but treats the input as one number and is slow on anything big; Base32 streams. For something a person reads out or types, Base32 is the usual pick; for a machine-to-machine field, Base64.

No. Base32 is an encoding, not encryption: it changes how bytes are written, not who can read them, and anyone can decode it with no key. Encrypt first (AES, age, a library's sealed box) when the content needs protecting, then encode the ciphertext if it has to travel as text.

Paste the Base32 into the input, or drop a text file that holds it. The tool decodes the bytes, says what they look like and how many there are, and shows the image when they are one. Check the file name, which is guessed from the bytes, and press Download.

From the first bytes. Most formats start with a signature, 89 50 4E 47 for PNG, %PDF for PDF, PK for ZIP, and the tool knows the common images, documents, archives, fonts and media, and tells text from the rest. It is a guess for the file name only; if you know what the bytes are, rename the file and it downloads under that name.

Usually the Base32 was cut short or carries something extra. Copy the whole value, including its end; leave out quotes and commas from the surrounding code. If the status line says the bytes look like text when you expected an image, the value wasn't the file's Base32 to begin with.

Nothing leaves your browser. The text is read into memory on your machine and the encoding is computed there, in plain JavaScript; the page makes no request with it. Load the page, go offline and it keeps working.

No. The "Base32 to file" tool is free and opens without a sign-in, an account or an install.

Nothing. The "Base32 to file" tool holds your input in the page's memory, so closing or reloading the tab clears it, and it saves nothing in this browser.

Yes: you can rename it before downloading. The default name is decoded plus the extension the format suggests, such as decoded.png.

When the bytes start like a PNG, JPEG, GIF, WebP, AVIF, ICO, BMP or SVG image, the page shows a preview before you download it. Other types show their size and the name of the format they start like.

The decoder takes either case, with or without the = padding, and ignores spaces and line breaks.

Closest to the "Base32 to file" tool: File to Base32, Base32 decoder, Base32 encoder, Base64 to file. Each opens on its own page, free and in the browser.

The "Base32 to file" tool is one of 32 in its group. The group's page, /tools/encoding, lists them all.

The tool is free. Its interface is built from shadcn.io's own components (Button, Input, Slider and the rest of the registry under /ui), which come in React, Vue, Svelte and Solid. Pro adds the blocks and templates for the product around it.