WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope.atob()

The WindowOrWorkerGlobalScope.atob() function decodes a string of data which has been encoded using base-64 encoding. You can use the btoa() method to encode and transmit data which may otherwise cause communication problems, then transmit it and use the atob() method to decode the data again. For example, you can encode, transmit, and decode control characters such as ASCII values 0 through 31.

For use with Unicode or UTF-8 strings, see this note at Base64 encoding and decoding and this note at btoa().

Syntax

var decodedData = scope.atob(encodedData);

Throws

Throws a DOMException if encodedData is not valid base64.

Example

var encodedData = window.btoa('Hello, world'); // encode a string
var decodedData = window.atob(encodedData); // decode the string

Specifications

Polyfill

// From https://github.com/MaxArt2501/base64-js/blob/master/base64.js
(function() {
    if (window.atob) {
        // Some browsers' implementation of atob doesn't support whitespaces
        // in the encoded string (notably, IE). This wraps the native atob
        // in a function that strips the whitespaces.
        // The original function can be retrieved in atob.original
        try {
            window.atob(" ");
        } catch (e) {
            window.atob = (function(atob) {
                var func = function(string) {
                    return atob(String(string).replace(/[\t\n\f\r ]+/g, ""));
                };
                func.original = atob;
                return func;
            })(root.atob);
        }
        return;
    }

    // base64 character set, plus padding character (=)
    var b64 = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/=",
        // Regular expression to check formal correctness of base64 encoded strings
        b64re = /^(?:[A-Za-z\d+\/]{4})*?(?:[A-Za-z\d+\/]{2}(?:==)?|[A-Za-z\d+\/]{3}=?)?$/;

    window.atob = function(string) {
        // atob can work with strings with whitespaces, even inside the encoded part,
        // but only \t, \n, \f, \r and ' ', which can be stripped.
        string = String(string).replace(/[\t\n\f\r ]+/g, "");
        if (!b64re.test(string))
            throw new TypeError("Failed to execute 'atob' on 'Window': The string to be decoded is not correctly encoded.");

        // Adding the padding if missing, for semplicity
        string += "==".slice(2 - (string.length & 3));
        var bitmap, result = "",
            r1, r2, i = 0;
        for (; i < string.length;) {
            bitmap = b64.indexOf(string.charAt(i++)) << 18 | b64.indexOf(string.charAt(i++)) << 12 |
                (r1 = b64.indexOf(string.charAt(i++))) << 6 | (r2 = b64.indexOf(string.charAt(i++)));

            result += r1 === 64 ? String.fromCharCode(bitmap >> 16 & 255) :
                r2 === 64 ? String.fromCharCode(bitmap >> 16 & 255, bitmap >> 8 & 255) :
                String.fromCharCode(bitmap >> 16 & 255, bitmap >> 8 & 255, bitmap & 255);
        }
        return result;
    };

})()

Browser compatibility

See also

• Base64 encoding and decoding
• data URIs
• window.btoa()
• Components.utils.importGlobalProperties