Python .a2b_base64()

The .a2b_base64() method in Python’s binascii module decodes a string of base64 encoded data. It takes an ASCII string containing base64 encoded data and converts it back into its original binary form.

Syntax

binascii.a2b_base64(string)

Parameters:

• string: A bytes-like object or ASCII string containing base64-encoded data to be decoded.

Return value:

Returns the original binary data as a bytes object after decoding the base64 input.

Note: If the input string is not correctly padded to a multiple of 4, a binascii.Error exception is raised.

Example

In this example, .a2b_base64() decodes a base64 string representing "Hello World!" back into binary form:

import binascii

# A Base64 encoded string representing "Hello World!"
encoded_string = b'SGVsbG8gV29ybGQh'

# Decode the Base64 string back to binary
decoded_data = binascii.a2b_base64(encoded_string)

print(f"Original encoded string: {encoded_string}")
print(f"Decoded binary data: {decoded_data}")
print(f"Decoded as text: {decoded_data.decode('utf-8')}")

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The output will be:

Original encoded string: b'SGVsbG8gV29ybGQh'
Decoded binary data: b'Hello World!'
Decoded as text: Hello World!

Codebyte Example

The following example shows how .a2b_base64() handles both valid and invalid base64 input:

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