What does this decode to?

Question

I found this, and want to know what it decodes to and what type of encoding it is:

ZGMzMGRjODlAc25hcGpveS5jb20=

Arjan · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-15 12:35:20Z

17

It is, as I expected, Base64. You can recognize it by the equal sign at the end. It translates to some sort of email address:

If you want to know more about Base64, there is a great Wikipedia article.

Arjan

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answered Jan 14, 2012 at 23:21

Simon Verbeke

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2

Quick clarification: Base64 doesn't always have an equal sign in it, but = or + are signals that it's probably base64.
– Christian Mann
Jan 14, 2012 at 23:23
2

Didn't know the + sign was used as well. The chance of it containing an equal sign is 2/3 by the way, as it's a space filler for incomplete 3-byte sequences.
– Simon Verbeke
Jan 14, 2012 at 23:26
2

VGhhbmtzISAuLi4uYW5kIHNvcnJ5LCBTbmFwSm95IDsp
– Nathan J.B.
Jan 14, 2012 at 23:48
@NathanJ.Brauer Is this question and your comment a very geeky kind of spam? :)
– Marek Grzenkowicz
Jan 19, 2012 at 15:26
Heh, no, I'm not that smart. ;) Really, I just wanted to decode their jobs puzzle but was too tired to figure it out completely on my own.
– Nathan J.B.
Jan 26, 2012 at 19:35

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Arjan · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-15 12:36:36Z

3

The encoding is called Base64, and it decodes to some email address.

Arjan

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answered Jan 14, 2012 at 23:22

Christian Mann

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Add a comment |

Håvard Geithus · Accepted Answer · 2012-01-15 12:09:09Z

When in need of detailed and specific information about an Internet standard I always look and see if there's an RFC (Request For Comments) for it. For the Base64-encoding, take a look at this document: The Base16, Base32, and Base64 Data Encodings (RFC 4648).

@Simon Verbeke: There are two versions of the Base64 alphabet. Take a look at the following tables in the RFC 4648.

"Table 1: The Base 64 Alphabet" ("base64")

"Table 2: The "URL and Filename safe" Base 64 Alphabet" ("base64url")

NOTE: The "base64url" encoding should not be regarded as the same as the "base64" encoding and should not be referred to as only "base64".

3 Answers 3