Image to Data URI Converter

A data URI is a way to embed a file directly inside a URL string using the data: scheme. Instead of linking to an external image file, you include the entire image as a base64-encoded string right in your HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. The browser decodes it on the fly and renders the image without making a separate network request.

The format follows a simple pattern: data:[media type];base64,[encoded data]. For a PNG image, that looks like data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo... and so on. Data URIs are supported in all modern browsers and work anywhere a regular URL would, including img src attributes, CSS background-image properties, and even link tags for favicons.

Data URIs shine in specific situations: single-file HTML documents that need to be self-contained, email signatures where linked images are often blocked, CSS backgrounds for tiny decorative elements, and offline-capable pages where no network requests are possible. They eliminate HTTP requests, which can speed up pages with many small images.

The trade-off is size. Base64 encoding adds roughly 33% overhead, so a 10KB image becomes about 13.3KB as a data URI. Browsers also cannot cache data URIs separately from the document they are embedded in. For images larger than 10-20KB, external files with proper caching headers will almost always perform better. Data URIs also make your HTML or CSS harder to read and maintain.