Base64 - the diffrence in size

Question

I'm using patternify and pixieengine when i need to make some small graphic elements for my websites. It didn't bother me till now - pixel editor is dead a few days now. Why these websites ? Because of the base64 code compression.

Example:

Patternify - I fill 5x5 px pattern with black color, this is the base64 code i can get:

data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAAUAAAAFCAYAAACNbyblAAAAEUlEQVQImWNgYGD4jwVTXRAA9qoY6Kb21uEAAAAASUVORK5CYII=

It's short and everything works as i expected.

Now I'll try to make a short base64 code without these sites. I made in photoshop a black square 5x5 the same as above and saved this in every possible format. Next I've found few online encoders but this is what they gave me:

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

Much longer code and the weight of file was similar to the PNG from patternify ~950 B

Patternify has limitation to 10x10 px. So for larger elements i have to use pixieengine, it has exact the same compression level as patternify and no limitation unfortunately it's dead thats why i need to understand now how it really works. Is there any "offline" way to achieve patternify/pixieengine compression level ?

Answer 1

This isn't really a question about base64 encoding, it's about image compression. Base64 encoding is not going to implicitly make your image take up fewer bytes, in fact it makes it take up more (binary vs. a string representation of that binary). Run your original PNG through a good compression tool such as pngcrush and then encode it as base64.