How Base64 encoding actually works
Why three bytes become four characters, what the = padding means, how base64url differs from the standard alphabet, the 33% size cost — and why Base64 is emphatically not encryption.
Guides
The tools on this site do the work; these guides explain what's actually happening underneath. Written for developers who want to understand a format rather than just push a button — including the parts that commonly go wrong.
What's inside a JWT
A token pulled apart segment by segment: header, payload, signature, and the claims that matter. Plus the security mistakes that keep breaking real systems — alg: none, algorithm confusion, and the revocation problem nobody plans for.
JSON vs YAML: when to use which
An honest comparison of the two config formats — comments, readability, tooling — and the YAML type-coercion traps that bite in production, from the Norway problem to version strings silently becoming numbers.
More on the way
New guides get added alongside the tools they explain. If there's a format you'd like taken apart properly, suggest it.