Text to Base58

Convert text to Base58 encoding - widely used in Bitcoin and Blockchain technology

Input Text

Base58 Result

0 Input Bytes

Bitcoin Alphabet Style

What Base58 encoding is for

Base58 turns data into a compact string using 58 characters. It takes the alphanumeric set and removes the ones people confuse when reading or typing: zero, capital O, capital I and lowercase l. It also avoids plus and slash, so the result can be double-clicked to select and dropped into URLs without escaping. That combination is why it appears in Bitcoin addresses, IPFS identifiers and short IDs. This tool encodes any text you type into that format.

Encoding steps

Enter or paste your message into the Input Text field.
Click Encode to Base58.
The Base58 Result card shows the encoded string. Two figures sit below it: Input Bytes, the size of your text in UTF-8, and Alphabet Style, which always reads Bitcoin.
Press Copy Result to copy the string. Changing the input hides the old result until you encode again.

How the encoding is calculated

The text is first converted to UTF-8 bytes, so accented characters and emoji work and count as several bytes.
The whole byte sequence is treated as one large number and rewritten in base 58 using the alphabet 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz.
Any leading zero bytes in the input are preserved as leading 1 characters in the output.

Example situations

Experimenting with the format while following a blockchain or cryptography tutorial.
Making a short human-friendly token from a small piece of text for a prototype.
Checking that a Base58 routine in your own code matches a reference.
Teaching how different bases represent the same data.

Limitations and advice

Base58 is not a checksummed format here. Bitcoin addresses use Base58Check, which adds a version byte and a four-byte checksum; this page does not add those, so the output is plain Base58 and not a valid address. The algorithm does big-number arithmetic on every byte, so very long inputs are slower than short ones, and the result length is not fixed to a multiple of anything. As with all encodings, it provides no secrecy. There are no paste, clear or download buttons here, so use the standard keyboard shortcuts for the input and the Copy Result button for the output. To reverse the encoding, use the Base58 to Text decoder. The encoding runs as JavaScript in your browser page.

Related Tools

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Frequently Asked Questions

Which Base58 alphabet does the tool use?

It uses the Bitcoin alphabet, 123456789ABCDEFGHJKLMNPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijkmnopqrstuvwxyz. That set leaves out 0, O, I and l. The page shows Bitcoin as its Alphabet Style, and there is no option to choose another.

Can I use the output as a Bitcoin address?

No. Real addresses use Base58Check, which adds a version byte and a checksum. This tool performs only plain Base58 encoding of your text, so the result is not a valid address for any network.

Why is the input measured in bytes?

Text is converted to UTF-8 bytes before encoding. Plain English letters take one byte each, while accented letters and emoji take two to four. The Input Bytes figure shows the count that was actually encoded.

What happens to leading zero bytes?

Each leading zero byte in the input becomes a leading 1 character in the output, which is how Base58 preserves them. This matters mainly when encoding binary-like text that begins with NUL characters.

Can I decode the result back to text?

Yes. Paste the Base58 string into the Base58 to Text tool on this site and click Decode Base58. It uses the same Bitcoin alphabet, so plain text encoded here decodes back exactly.