# How to convert a byte array to a string in Java

By Atta Ur Rehman Shah (https://attacomsian.com/about). Published Dec 17, 2019, updated Oct 29, 2022. Topics: Java.
Canonical URL: https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-convert-byte-array-to-string

> A quick tutorial to learn how to convert a byte[] array to a string and vice versa in Java.

In this article, you'll learn how to **convert a `byte[]` array to a string** in Java. We will also look at different ways to **convert a string into a `byte[]` array**. Conversion between byte array and string is one of the most common tasks in Java while [reading files](https://attacomsian.com/blog/java-read-write-files), generating crypto hashes, etc.

## Convert `byte[]` Array to String in Java

### Convert a byte array to a string using a string constructor

The **simplest way to convert a byte array to a string** is to use the `String` class constructor with `byte[]` as an argument:

```java
// create a byte array (demo purpose only)
byte[] bytes = "Hey, there!".getBytes();

// convert byte array to string
String str = new String(bytes);

// print string
System.out.println(str);
```

Here is the output of the above code snippet:

```bash
Hey, there!
```

By default, `new String()` **uses the platform default character encoding** to convert the byte array to a string. If the character encoding is different, you can specify it by passing another argument to `new String()` as shown below:

```java
String str = new String(bytes, StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
```

### Convert a byte array to a string using the `Base64` class

Since Java 8, we have [Base64](https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/api/java/util/Base64.html) class available that provides static methods for obtaining[ encoders and decoders for the Base64](https://attacomsian.com/blog/base64-encode-decode-java) encoding scheme. You can also use this class to encode byte array into a string as shown below:

```java
// create a byte array (demo purpose only)
byte[] bytes = "Hey, there!".getBytes();

// convert byte array to string
String str = Base64.getEncoder().encodeToString(bytes);

// print string
System.out.println(str);
```

## Convert String to `byte[]` Array in Java

### Convert a string to a byte array using `String.getBytes()`

You can use the `String.getBytes()` method to convert a string to a byte array. This method uses the default character encoding to encode this string into a sequence of bytes. Here is an example:

```java
// create a string (demo purpose only)
String str = "Hey, there!";

// convert string to byte array
byte[] bytes = str.getBytes();
```

You can also **specify a different character encoding**:

```java
byte[] bytes = str.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
```

### Convert a string to a byte array using the `Base64` class

The `Base64` class can also be used to decode a string into a byte array as shown below:

```java
// create a string (demo purpose only)
String str = "Hey, there!";

// convert string to byte array
byte[] bytes = Base64.getDecoder().decode(str);
```