How does basic authorization (Basic Auth) work?

Basic Authentication (Basic Auth) is a simple method of HTTP request authentication. The client sends an Authorization header with the type Basic and a Base64-encoded string containing the username and password in the format username:password.

Example header:

Authorization: Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=

The server decodes the string, verifies the credentials, and if they are correct, grants access to the resource. This method does not encrypt data, so it is recommended to use it only over HTTPS to protect the password from interception.