File to Base32.

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.

Drop the file onto the input or choose it with the button. Its bytes are encoded in your browser and the Base32 appears in the result pane, with the size it grew to. Copy it, or download it as a text file.

Any file the browser can hold in memory works; a few hundred megabytes is fine, and the result is 60% larger.

Whatever needs the bytes as text: a secret an authenticator app can take, a case-insensitive file name or a code read over the phone. Base32 is safe in a URL apart from its padding, and it is 60% larger than the file, so it is for carrying bytes through text, not for storing them.

Nothing leaves your browser. The file 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 "File to Base32" tool is free and opens without a sign-in, an account or an install.

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

Any file the browser can open. The bytes are read in your browser and encoded as Base32; the result can be copied or downloaded as base32-encoded.txt.

Base32 output is 8 characters for every 5 bytes, so 60 percent longer, and the status line under the result shows the bytes in, the characters out and the percentage.

Use the Base32 to file page: it decodes Base32 back to the original bytes, and names the download after the file type it recognises.

Yes, the same choices as the text encoder: Padding, with or without the = signs (TOTP secrets are written without).

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

The "File to Base32" 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.