How to Get a Base64 Version of a File From Command Line

By  on  

A while back I wrote an article on how to Convert Image to Data URI with JavaScript. It's a neat trick developers can use for any number of reasons. Instead of abusing canvas, however, why not simply get the base64 data from command line?

You can use base64 and pbcopy to convert a file to base64 and copy it to the clipboard:

# base64 gets data, pbcopy copies to clipboard
base64 -i logo.jpeg | pbcopy

Once you have the file data copied in base64 format, the URL format to use the data is:

# data:{mime-type};base64,{data}
data:image/jpeg;base64,/9j/4AAQSkZJRgAB......

While base64 data and data URIs do look cryptic, they're useful to avoid making requests to other files. I use them when creating presentations or when I can't count on a decent internet connection.

Recent Features

  • By
    9 More Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos

    With Firefox OS, asm.js, and the push for browser performance improvements, canvas and WebGL technologies are opening a world of possibilities.  I featured 9 Mind-Blowing Canvas Demos and then took it up a level with 9 Mind-Blowing WebGL Demos, but I want to outdo...

  • By
    7 Essential JavaScript Functions

    I remember the early days of JavaScript where you needed a simple function for just about everything because the browser vendors implemented features differently, and not just edge features, basic features, like addEventListener and attachEvent.  Times have changed but there are still a few functions each developer should...

Incredible Demos

  • By
    Create Twitter-Style Dropdowns Using MooTools

    Twitter does some great stuff with JavaScript. What I really appreciate about what they do is that there aren't any epic JS functionalities -- they're all simple touches. One of those simple touches is the "Login" dropdown on their homepage. I've taken...

  • By
    TextboxList for MooTools and jQuery by Guillermo Rauch

    I'll be honest with you: I still haven't figured out if I like my MooTools teammate Guillermo Rauch. He's got a lot stacked up against him. He's from Argentina so I get IM'ed about 10 times a day about how great Lionel...

Discussion

    Wrap your code in <pre class="{language}"></pre> tags, link to a GitHub gist, JSFiddle fiddle, or CodePen pen to embed!