DataURL

Why Use Utiliti's Data URL Tool?

Data URLs often contain embedded images, documents, or other files that may be sensitive—profile pictures, scanned documents, or proprietary graphics. Many online data URL tools upload your files to their servers for processing.

Utiliti's Data URL viewer runs entirely in your browser. Your files and data URLs never leave your device, making it safe to work with:

• Embedded Images: Preview Base64-encoded images from emails or HTML files
• API Responses: View images returned as data URLs from APIs
• Sensitive Documents: Decode data URLs containing private files
• Debug Assets: Inspect embedded resources in web applications

Features

• Auto-detection: Automatically detects the image type even if the data URL prefix is missing
• Multiple Formats: Supports JPEG, PNG, WebP, and SVG images
• Quality Control: Adjust compression quality when converting images to data URLs
• Drag & Drop: Simply drag an image file onto the input area to convert it
• Instant Preview: See the decoded image immediately after pasting

How to Use

1. Paste a data URL: Enter a complete data URL or just the Base64-encoded string
2. Or upload a file: Drag and drop an image or use the file picker to convert an image to a data URL
3. Choose format & quality: Select output format and compression level for conversions
4. View the result: Click Display to see the decoded image

What is a Data URL?

A data URL (Uniform Resource Locator) is a type of URI (Uniform Resource Identifier) scheme that allows you to include data in-line in web pages as if they were external resources. Instead of referencing an external file, the data URL allows you to embed the actual data directly within the URL itself.

The general syntax of a data URL looks like this:

data:[<mediatype>][;base64],<data>

Here's a breakdown of the components:

• <mediatype>: This is an optional parameter that specifies the MIME type of the data. For example, "text/plain", "image/jpeg", "application/pdf", etc.
• ;base64: This is an optional parameter indicating that the data is Base64-encoded. If present, it means that the data portion is encoded in Base64 format.
• <data>: This is the actual data that you want to include. If ;base64 is used, this data is encoded in Base64; otherwise, it is in plain text.

Common Use Cases

• Email Debugging: View embedded images from HTML emails that use data URLs
• CSS Development: Create data URLs for small icons to embed directly in stylesheets
• Single-File HTML: Generate data URLs for creating self-contained HTML documents
• API Testing: Inspect image data returned by APIs in Base64 format
• Performance Optimization: Convert small images to data URLs to reduce HTTP requests

Data URL Size Considerations

While data URLs are convenient, they increase the size of your HTML/CSS by approximately 33% compared to the original binary file (due to Base64 encoding overhead). They're best suited for small files under 10KB. For larger images, traditional file references with proper caching are usually more efficient.