Convert buffer base64 -> utf8 encoding node.js

Question

My app imports all the messages from the Notes folder of GMail. I use imap npm module for that.

Using the example from their github page I get all the contents of a message into a buffer:

 stream.on('data', function(chunk) {
     count += chunk.length;
     buffer += chunk.toString('utf8');
 });

However, what I get are sentences like

  0KHQvdCw0YfQsNC70LAg0YHQvtC30LTQsNC10YLRgdGPINGA0LXRiNC10YLQutCwINC/0YDQvtGB 0YLRgNCw0L3RgdGC0LLQsCDQstC+0L7QsdGA0LDQttC10L3QuNGPLiZuYnNwOzxkaXY+PGJyPjwv ZGl2PjxkaXY+0JfQsNGC0LXQvCDQvdCwI

(wrong conversion from Russian)

I found out that these are the snippets of text encoded in base64 and in order to read them I need to convert it from base64 to utf8.

There is also sometimes an annoying = character that appears from nowhere...

 letting them f= all on her shoulders

Do you know how I could get rid of those two problems?

Thank you!

In order to convert from base64 to utf8 you can use (new Buffer(original, 'base64')).toString('utf8'). Could you provide more details about the = problem? — jabclab
– jabclab, Commented Nov 3, 2014 at 20:23
@jabclab this works, but only for the buffers that contain russian only. if there's a buffer that has only english text or english and russian, it produces gibberish. i guess i need to run some script before the conversion to identify the encoding, right? — Aerodynamika
– Aerodynamika, Commented Nov 3, 2014 at 20:32
@jabclab regarding the = problem – for some reason sometimes the = sign just gets inserted randomly in the text. i can't seem to find where exactly it appears... thank you! — Aerodynamika
– Aerodynamika, Commented Nov 3, 2014 at 20:33
@jabclab could you pls post it as an answer as that worked really well for me? — Aerodynamika
– Aerodynamika, Commented Nov 4, 2014 at 20:41

mido · Accepted Answer · 2016-12-02 09:56:38Z

38

new Buffer(...) has been deprecated for a while now, go for Buffer.from(...)

a simple example might be:

var utf8encoded = Buffer.from(base64encoded, 'base64').toString('utf8');

answered Dec 2, 2016 at 9:56

mido

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1 Comment

Sloloem Over a year ago

This only works if base64encoded is a string. If it's already a buffer you get the same encoded value out as what went in. Only thing I've found is to dump the already-encoded buffer to a base64, read it back into the Buffer.from(), and dump it back out as, finally, the plaintext string.

Nigrimmist · Accepted Answer · 2019-07-04 13:50:57Z

26

In order to convert from a base64 encoded String to utf8 you can use the following:

var base64encoded = '0KHQvdCw0YfQsNC70LAg0YHQvtC30LTQsNC10YLRgdGPINGA0LXRiNC10YLQutCwINC/0YDQvtGB 0YLRgNCw0L3RgdGC0LLQsCDQstC+0L7QsdGA0LDQttC10L3QuNGPLiZuYnNwOzxkaXY+PGJyPjwv ZGl2PjxkaXY+0JfQsNGC0LXQvCDQvdCwI';

var utf8encoded = (new Buffer(base64encoded, 'base64')).toString('utf8');

edited Jul 4, 2019 at 13:50

Nigrimmist

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answered Nov 5, 2014 at 21:54

jabclab

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1 Comment

Dominik Over a year ago

new Buffer() is deprecated with Stability:0, see mido's answer.

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