PDF to Base64 Converter
Drop a PDF in and copy the encoded string. Nothing is uploaded — the file is read locally — and large documents are encoded on a background thread so the page stays usable while it runs.
Processed as you paste — no button to press (Ctrl+Enter converts now / Esc clears)
Drop a file here, or — Ctrl+V a screenshot works too
Any file type · 100 MB maximum
Paste, drag and drop, or Ctrl+V a screenshot
Common uses
- Upload endpoints — services that accept a document as a JSON string field
- Database storage — smaller PDFs parked in a text column when a file store is overkill
- Email and templating — attachments as text pass through systems that strip binary
Size expectations
Base64 costs about 33 percent: a 3 MB PDF becomes roughly 4 MB of text. That growth happens again in transit and in memory, which is why most APIs cap encoded payloads well below their nominal limit. If the request fails with a size error, the PDF itself is usually the thing to shrink.
Frequently asked questions
Are scanned PDFs handled differently?
No. Scanned and text PDFs are encoded the same way — the bytes are what matter. Just note that scans are image-heavy, so the encoded string grows accordingly.