这是Objective C类别的一个很好的用例。

对于Base64编码:

#import <Foundation/NSString.h>

@interface NSString (NSStringAdditions)

+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData:(NSData *)data length:(int)length;

@end

-------------------------------------------

#import "NSStringAdditions.h"

static char base64EncodingTable[64] = {
  'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L', 'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
  'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
  'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
  'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7', '8', '9', '+', '/'
};

@implementation NSString (NSStringAdditions)

+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData: (NSData *)data length: (int)length {
  unsigned long ixtext, lentext;
  long ctremaining;
  unsigned char input[3], output[4];
  short i, charsonline = 0, ctcopy;
  const unsigned char *raw;
  NSMutableString *result;

  lentext = [data length]; 
  if (lentext < 1)
    return @"";
  result = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity: lentext];
  raw = [data bytes];
  ixtext = 0; 

  while (true) {
    ctremaining = lentext - ixtext;
    if (ctremaining <= 0) 
       break;        
    for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) { 
       unsigned long ix = ixtext + i;
       if (ix < lentext)
          input[i] = raw[ix];
       else
  input[i] = 0;
  }
  output[0] = (input[0] & 0xFC) >> 2;
  output[1] = ((input[0] & 0x03) << 4) | ((input[1] & 0xF0) >> 4);
  output[2] = ((input[1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((input[2] & 0xC0) >> 6);
  output[3] = input[2] & 0x3F;
  ctcopy = 4;
  switch (ctremaining) {
    case 1: 
      ctcopy = 2; 
      break;
    case 2: 
      ctcopy = 3; 
      break;
  }

  for (i = 0; i < ctcopy; i++)
     [result appendString: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%c", base64EncodingTable[output[i]]]];

  for (i = ctcopy; i < 4; i++)
     [result appendString: @"="];

  ixtext += 3;
  charsonline += 4;

  if ((length > 0) && (charsonline >= length))
    charsonline = 0;
  }     
  return result;
}

@end

对于Base64解码:

#import <Foundation/Foundation.h>

@class NSString;

@interface NSData (NSDataAdditions)

+ (NSData *) base64DataFromString:(NSString *)string;

@end

-------------------------------------------

#import "NSDataAdditions.h"

@implementation NSData (NSDataAdditions)

+ (NSData *)base64DataFromString: (NSString *)string
{
    unsigned long ixtext, lentext;
    unsigned char ch, inbuf[4], outbuf[3];
    short i, ixinbuf;
    Boolean flignore, flendtext = false;
    const unsigned char *tempcstring;
    NSMutableData *theData;

    if (string == nil)
    {
        return [NSData data];
    }

    ixtext = 0;

    tempcstring = (const unsigned char *)[string UTF8String];

    lentext = [string length];

    theData = [NSMutableData dataWithCapacity: lentext];

    ixinbuf = 0;

    while (true)
    {
        if (ixtext >= lentext)
        {
            break;
        }

        ch = tempcstring [ixtext++];

        flignore = false;

        if ((ch >= 'A') && (ch <= 'Z'))
        {
            ch = ch - 'A';
        }
        else if ((ch >= 'a') && (ch <= 'z'))
        {
            ch = ch - 'a' + 26;
        }
        else if ((ch >= '0') && (ch <= '9'))
        {
            ch = ch - '0' + 52;
        }
        else if (ch == '+')
        {
            ch = 62;
        }
        else if (ch == '=')
        {
            flendtext = true;
        }
        else if (ch == '/')
        {
            ch = 63;
        }
        else
        {
            flignore = true; 
        }

        if (!flignore)
        {
            short ctcharsinbuf = 3;
            Boolean flbreak = false;

            if (flendtext)
            {
                if (ixinbuf == 0)
                {
                    break;
                }

                if ((ixinbuf == 1) || (ixinbuf == 2))
                {
                    ctcharsinbuf = 1;
                }
                else
                {
                    ctcharsinbuf = 2;
                }

                ixinbuf = 3;

                flbreak = true;
            }

            inbuf [ixinbuf++] = ch;

            if (ixinbuf == 4)
            {
                ixinbuf = 0;

                outbuf[0] = (inbuf[0] << 2) | ((inbuf[1] & 0x30) >> 4);
                outbuf[1] = ((inbuf[1] & 0x0F) << 4) | ((inbuf[2] & 0x3C) >> 2);
                outbuf[2] = ((inbuf[2] & 0x03) << 6) | (inbuf[3] & 0x3F);

                for (i = 0; i < ctcharsinbuf; i++)
                {
                    [theData appendBytes: &outbuf[i] length: 1];
                }
            }

            if (flbreak)
            {
                break;
            }
        }
    }

    return theData;
}

    @end

iOS内置了对base64编码和解码的支持。如果你查看resolv.h，你会看到两个函数b64_ntop和b64_pton。Square SocketRocket库提供了一个如何从objective-c中使用这些函数的合理示例。

这些功能都经过了很好的测试和可靠-不像你在网上随便看到的那些实现。 不要忘记链接libresolve .dylib。

更好的解决方案:

NSData中有一个内置函数

[data base64Encoding]; //iOS < 7.0
[data base64EncodedStringWithOptions:NSDataBase64Encoding76CharacterLineLength]; //iOS >= 7.0

因为这似乎是在base64编码和iphone上排名第一的谷歌，我想用上面的代码片段分享我的经验。

它是有效的，但是非常慢。在本机iphone上对随机图像(0.4 mb)进行基准测试需要37秒。主要原因可能是OOP的魔力——单字符nsstring等，只有在编码完成后才会自动释放。

这里发布的另一个建议(ab)使用openssl库，这感觉也有点过分。

下面的代码需要70毫秒——这是500倍的加速。这只做base64编码(解码将遵循一旦我遇到它)

+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData: (NSData *)data length: (int)length {
int lentext = [data length]; 
if (lentext < 1) return @"";

char *outbuf = malloc(lentext*4/3+4); // add 4 to be sure

if ( !outbuf ) return nil;

const unsigned char *raw = [data bytes];

int inp = 0;
int outp = 0;
int do_now = lentext - (lentext%3);

for ( outp = 0, inp = 0; inp < do_now; inp += 3 )
{
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[(raw[inp] & 0xFC) >> 2];
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp] & 0x03) << 4) | ((raw[inp+1] & 0xF0) >> 4)];
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((raw[inp+2] & 0xC0) >> 6)];
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[raw[inp+2] & 0x3F];
}

if ( do_now < lentext )
{
    char tmpbuf[2] = {0,0};
    int left = lentext%3;
    for ( int i=0; i < left; i++ )
    {
        tmpbuf[i] = raw[do_now+i];
    }
    raw = tmpbuf;
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[(raw[inp] & 0xFC) >> 2];
    outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp] & 0x03) << 4) | ((raw[inp+1] & 0xF0) >> 4)];
    if ( left == 2 ) outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable[((raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((raw[inp+2] & 0xC0) >> 6)];
}

NSString *ret = [[[NSString alloc] initWithBytes:outbuf length:outp encoding:NSASCIIStringEncoding] autorelease];
free(outbuf);

return ret;
}

我省略了行切割，因为我不需要它，但添加它是微不足道的。

对于那些对优化感兴趣的人来说:目标是最小化主循环中发生的事情。因此，处理最后3个字节的所有逻辑都在循环之外处理。

此外，尝试就地处理数据，而不需要额外地从缓冲区复制数据。把所有算术运算都简化到最小。

观察那些放在一起查找表中的条目的位，当它们被放在一起而不移动时，它们不会重叠。因此，一个主要的改进可能是使用4个单独的256字节查找表并消除移位，如下所示:

outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable1[(raw[inp] & 0xFC)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable2[(raw[inp] & 0x03) | (raw[inp+1] & 0xF0)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable3[(raw[inp+1] & 0x0F) | (raw[inp+2] & 0xC0)];
outbuf[outp++] = base64EncodingTable4[raw[inp+2] & 0x3F];

当然，你可以更进一步，但这超出了这里的范围。

我已经做到了使用以下类..

@implementation Base64Converter
static char base64EncodingTable[64] = {
'A', 'B', 'C', 'D', 'E', 'F', 'G', 'H', 'I', 'J', 'K', 'L',  'M', 'N', 'O', 'P',
'Q', 'R', 'S', 'T', 'U', 'V', 'W', 'X', 'Y', 'Z', 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', 'e', 'f',
'g', 'h', 'i', 'j', 'k', 'l', 'm', 'n', 'o', 'p', 'q', 'r', 's', 't', 'u', 'v',
'w', 'x', 'y', 'z', '0', '1', '2', '3', '4', '5', '6', '7',    '8', '9', '+', '/'
};
+ (NSString *) base64StringFromData: (NSData *)data length: (int)length {

unsigned long ixtext, lentext;

long ctremaining;

unsigned char input[3], output[4];

short i, charsonline = 0, ctcopy;

const unsigned char *raw;

NSMutableString *result;

lentext = [data length];

if (lentext < 1)
    return @"";

result = [NSMutableString stringWithCapacity: lentext];

raw = [data bytes];

ixtext = 0;

while (true) {

    ctremaining = lentext - ixtext;

    if (ctremaining <= 0)
        break;

    for (i = 0; i < 3; i++) {
        unsigned long ix = ixtext + i;
        if (ix < lentext)
            input[i] = raw[ix];
        else
            input[i] = 0;
    }

    output[0] = (input[0] & 0xFC) >> 2;

    output[1] = ((input[0] & 0x03) << 4) | ((input[1] & 0xF0) >> 4);

    output[2] = ((input[1] & 0x0F) << 2) | ((input[2] & 0xC0) >> 6);

    output[3] = input[2] & 0x3F;

    ctcopy = 4;

    switch (ctremaining) {
        case 1:
            ctcopy = 2;
            break;

        case 2:
            ctcopy = 3;
            break;
    }

    for (i = 0; i < ctcopy; i++)
        [result appendString: [NSString stringWithFormat: @"%c", base64EncodingTable[output[i]]]];

    for (i = ctcopy; i < 4; i++)
        [result appendString: @"="];

    ixtext += 3;

    charsonline += 4;

    if ((length > 0) && (charsonline >= length))
        charsonline = 0;
}
return result;
}
@end

打电话的时候

 [Base64Converter base64StringFromData:dataval length:lengthval];

就是这样……

关于在iOS7中使用NSData (NSDataBase64Encoding)类别方法的更新，请参阅我的回答:https://stackoverflow.com/a/18927627/1602729