Home – Apache Commons Codec
Apache Commons Codec ™
Last Published: 23 Jan 2026
Version: 1.21.0
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Apache Commons Codec
Apache Commons Codec (TM) software provides implementations of common encoders and decoders
such as Base64, Hex, Phonetic and URLs.
Impetus
Codec was formed as an attempt to focus development effort on one
definitive implementation of the Base64 encoder. At the time of
Codec's proposal, there were approximately 34 different Java
classes that dealt with Base64 encoding spread over the
Foundation's CVS repository. Developers in the Jakarta Tomcat
project had implemented an original version of the Base64 codec
which had been copied by the Commons HttpClient and Apache XML
project's XML-RPC subproject. After almost one year, the two
forked versions of Base64 had significantly diverged from one
another. XML-RPC had applied numerous fixes and patches which
were not applied to the Commons HttpClient Base64. Different
subprojects had differing implementations at various levels
of compliance with the
RFC 2045
Out of that confusing duplication of effort sprang this simple
attempt to encourage code reuse among various projects. While
this package contains an abstract framework for the creation of
encoders and decoders, Codec itself is primarily focused on
providing functional utilities for working with common encodings.
Documentation
An overview of the functionality is provided in the
user guide
Various
project reports
are also available.
The Javadoc API documents are available online:
Javadoc latest version
Javadoc archive
The
Git repository
can be
browsed
Releases
Download latest version (mirrors)
; requires Java 8 or above
Download archive
See the
Download Page
for the latest releases.
Change reports
are also available.
For previous releases, see the
Apache Archive
Support
The
commons mailing lists
act as the main support forum.
The user list is suitable for most library usage queries.
The dev list is intended for the development discussion.
Please remember that the lists are shared between all commons components,
so prefix your email by [codec].
Issues may be reported via
ASF JIRA
Copyright © 2002-2026
The Apache Software Foundation
Apache Commons, Apache Commons Codec, Apache, the Apache logo, and the Apache Commons project logos are trademarks of The Apache Software Foundation.
All other marks mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.