Free ASCII85/Base85 Encoder/Decoder
Quick Tips
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Encode and decode data using ASCII85 (Base85) encoding format.
Your Recent Tools
Examples
Hello
<~87cURD]i~>
<~87cURD]i~>
Hello
Test
<~<+ohc~>
ASCII85
<~6#:diffA~>
Why Use This Tool?
What problems does this solve?
When encoding efficiency matters more than compatibility, ASCII85 provides better compression than Base64. Its 25% overhead (vs Base64's 33%) saves significant space for large files while maintaining text-safe encoding.
Common use cases:
- Decoding binary data from PostScript and PDF files
- Encoding large datasets where 8% savings makes a difference
- Working with Git pack files and specialized applications
- Debugging embedded content in document formats
- Learning about efficient binary-to-text encoding schemes
Who benefits from this tool?
PDF and PostScript developers working with embedded data. Print professionals debugging document internals. Developers optimizing encoded data size. Anyone analyzing or creating Adobe format files.
Privacy first: All encoding and decoding happens locally in your browser. Your data never leaves your device.
Frequently Asked Questions
ASCII85 encodes 4 bytes as 5 characters (25% overhead), while Base64 encodes 3 bytes as 4 characters (33% overhead). Using 85 characters instead of 64 allows more data per character, improving efficiency.
These markers indicate the start and end of ASCII85-encoded data in Adobe format. They help parsers identify encoded sections in PostScript and PDF files. Some applications omit these delimiters.
A single "z" represents four zero bytes. This special case improves encoding efficiency for data with many null bytes, as five characters are compressed to one.
ASCII85 is primarily used in Adobe PostScript and PDF files for embedding binary data like images. It is also used in Git for pack files and some specialized applications.
Base64 is usually better for web applications due to broader support, familiarity, and URL-safe variants. Use ASCII85 when working with PDF/PostScript or when the 8% size savings justifies the complexity.
Z85 (ZeroMQ Base-85) is an ASCII85 variant using a different alphabet designed to be safe in more contexts like JSON and XML. It avoids quotes and backslashes that need escaping.
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