title: Why does a base64 encoded string have an = sign at the end
body: <p>I know what <code>base64</code> encoding is and how to calculate <code>base64</code> encoding in C#, however I have seen several times that when I convert a string into base64, there is an <code>=</code> at the end.</p>
  
  <p>A few questions came up:</p>
  
  <ol>
  <li>Does a <code>base64</code> string always end with <code>=</code>?</li>
  <li>Why does an <code>=</code> get appended at the end?</li>
  </ol>