Encode bytes as Base58 – the Bitcoin alphabet that deliberately omits 0, O, I and l so codes survive being read aloud, handwritten or retyped.
Show calculation steps
Processed privately in your browser — nothing you paste is uploaded, logged or stored.
Built for humans to copy
Base58 uses the alphanumerics minus four characters: 0, O, I and l. Those are the pairs people confuse when reading a string off a screen or a piece of paper, and removing them removes a whole class of transcription error.
Worked example
alphabet: 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz
(no 0, no O, no I, no l)
leading zero bytes encode as leading 1sWhy no punctuation
Base64 uses + and /, which break double-click selection and need escaping in URLs. Base58 has none, so an identifier can be selected with one gesture and pasted anywhere without encoding. For a string a person handles, that matters more than the size difference.
Where it is used
Bitcoin addresses, IPFS content identifiers, and a number of systems that borrowed the convention for short public identifiers. Bitcoin addresses use Base58Check, which appends a checksum so a mistyped address fails rather than sending funds nowhere.
Limits
This encodes bytes as Base58; it does not add or verify a Base58Check checksum, and it cannot tell you whether an address is valid or in use. Encoding is done in your browser.
How to use the Base58 Encoder
- Enter your text, or switch the input option to "Hex bytes" if you are starting from raw byte values.
- Click "Encode to Base58".
- Copy the result – Base58 strings are designed to be safe to write down and read aloud.
Frequently asked questions
What makes Base58 different from Base64?
Base58 removes four characters that look alike in many fonts: the digit zero, capital O, capital I and lower-case l. It also drops plus and slash, which are awkward in URLs and when double-clicking to select. The result is slightly longer but much harder to mis-transcribe.
Why do leading zero bytes turn into leading "1" characters?
Base58 treats the input as one large number, and a leading zero byte would otherwise vanish. The convention is to emit one "1" – the digit representing zero in this alphabet – for each leading zero byte, so the byte length is preserved exactly.
Is this the same encoding as a Bitcoin address?
The alphabet is the same. A full Bitcoin address uses Base58Check, which appends a four-byte checksum derived from a double SHA-256 hash before encoding. This tool performs plain Base58 without that checksum step.
Can I encode binary data?
Yes. Switch the input option to "Hex bytes" and paste hex values; spaces, commas and 0x prefixes are all accepted.
