What is Quoted-Printable encoding?

Quoted-Printable is a MIME content transfer encoding defined in RFC 2045. It encodes 8-bit bytes as =XX hex sequences while leaving printable ASCII (33–126) and tab/space unchanged, keeping output mostly human-readable.

When should I use QP instead of Base64?

QP is best when the content is mostly ASCII with only a few special characters, because it keeps the text readable. Base64 is more efficient for binary data or heavily non-ASCII content.

Why are lines limited to 76 characters?

RFC 2045 requires QP lines to be at most 76 characters. Longer lines are broken with a soft line break (a trailing = followed by CRLF) that decoders strip out automatically.

Does this handle UTF-8 correctly?

Yes. Each byte of a multi-byte UTF-8 sequence is encoded individually as =XX, which is the standard approach for QP-encoded UTF-8 content.

What does the = at the end of a line mean?

A trailing = (soft line break) indicates that the line was wrapped for transport and the line break is not part of the original content. Decoders join the line to the next before processing.

Can this tool both encode and decode quoted-printable?

Yes. Switch between Encode and Decode modes: Encode converts plain or Unicode text to QP (=XX) format, and Decode reverses QP-encoded email bodies and =?UTF-8?Q?...?= subject lines back to readable text.

Quoted Printable Encoder / Decoder

Name: Quoted Printable Encoder / Decoder
Availability: InStock
Author: Nham Vu

Encode plain text into Quoted-Printable format or decode QP-encoded strings back to plain text, with live output and copy support.

Input

Options

Soft-wrap at 76 chars (RFC 2045)

Output

Summary

Encode plain text into Quoted-Printable format or decode QP-encoded strings back to plain text, with live output and copy support.

How it works

Paste or type your input text into the editor.
Choose Encode to convert plain text to Quoted-Printable, or Decode to reverse the process.
The output appears instantly below the input.
Each non-ASCII byte is represented as =XX where XX is the two-digit uppercase hex value.
Lines are soft-wrapped at 76 characters with a trailing = for MIME compliance.
Click Copy Output to copy the result to your clipboard.

Use cases

Prepare email body content for SMTP transmission.
Encode UTF-8 or extended-ASCII strings for MIME messages.
Debug QP-encoded email payloads received from mail servers.
Decode =?UTF-8?Q?...?= encoded email subject lines.
Inspect how email clients encode special characters.
Verify that encoded output round-trips cleanly back to the original.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-06-10 · Reviewed by Nham Vu