Base64 and other encodings in SQLite

You've probably heard about hexadecimal encoding in SQLite:

select hex('hello');
-- 68656C6C6F

select unhex('68656C6C6F');
-- hello

SQLite does not support other encoding algorithms by default. However, you can easily enable them using the sqlean-crypto extension (not related to cryptocurrency in any way).

Note. Unlike other DBMS, adding extensions to SQLite is a breeze. Download a file, run one database command — and you are good to go.

sqlean-crypto adds two functions:

• encode(data, algo) encodes binary data into a textual representation using the specified algorithm.
• decode(text, algo) decodes binary data from a textual representation using the specified algorithm.

Supported algorithms: base32, base64, base85, hex and url.

Base32 uses 32 human-readable characters to represent binary data:

select encode('hello', 'base32');
-- NBSWY3DP

select decode('NBSWY3DP', 'base32');
-- hello

Base64 uses 64 printable characters to represent binary data:

select encode('hello', 'base64');
-- aGVsbG8=

select decode('aGVsbG8=', 'base64');
-- hello

Base85 (aka Ascii85) uses 85 printable characters to represent binary data:

select encode('hello', 'base85');
-- BOu!rDZ

select decode('BOu!rDZ', 'base85');
-- hello

Hexadecimal uses 16 characters (0-9 and A-F) to represent binary data:

select encode('hello', 'hex');
-- 68656c6c6f

select decode('68656c6c6f', 'hex');
-- hello

URL encoding replaces non-alphanumeric characters in a string with their corresponding percent-encoded values:

select encode('hel lo!', 'url');
-- hel%20lo%21

select decode('hel%20lo%21', 'url');
-- hel lo!

Installation and Usage

1. Download the latest release

2. Use with SQLite command-line interface:

sqlite> .load ./crypto
sqlite> select encode('hello', 'base64');

See How to Install an Extension for usage with IDE, Python, etc.

See Extension Documentation for reference.

 Subscribe to keep up with new posts.