diff --git a/include/osgDB/ConvertBase64 b/include/osgDB/ConvertBase64
index 2e0adca94..2693f86fe 100644
--- a/include/osgDB/ConvertBase64
+++ b/include/osgDB/ConvertBase64
@@ -46,6 +46,14 @@ namespace osgDB
         int stepcount;
     } base64_encodestate;
 
+    inline void base64_init_encodestate(base64_encodestate* state_in)
+    {
+        state_in->step = step_A;
+        state_in->result = 0;
+        state_in->stepcount = 0;
+    }
+
+
     typedef struct
     {
         base64_decodestep step;
@@ -61,9 +69,11 @@ namespace osgDB
     class OSGDB_EXPORT Base64encoder
     {
     public:
-        Base64encoder(int buffersize_in = BUFFERSIZE)
-        : _buffersize(buffersize_in)
-        {}
+        Base64encoder(int buffersize_in = BUFFERSIZE):
+            _buffersize(buffersize_in)
+        {
+            base64_init_encodestate(&_state);
+        }
 
         int encode(char value_in);
 
@@ -83,9 +93,11 @@ namespace osgDB
     class OSGDB_EXPORT Base64decoder
     {
     public:
-        Base64decoder(int buffersize_in = BUFFERSIZE)
-        : _buffersize(buffersize_in)
-        {}
+        Base64decoder(int buffersize_in = BUFFERSIZE):
+            _buffersize(buffersize_in)
+        {
+            base64_init_decodestate(&_state);
+        }
 
         int decode(char value_in);
 
diff --git a/src/osgDB/ConvertBase64.cpp b/src/osgDB/ConvertBase64.cpp
index 63f52559a..8a2f59e5a 100644
--- a/src/osgDB/ConvertBase64.cpp
+++ b/src/osgDB/ConvertBase64.cpp
@@ -99,13 +99,6 @@ namespace osgDB
         return plainchar - plaintext_out;
     }
 
-    void base64_init_encodestate(base64_encodestate* state_in)
-    {
-        state_in->step = step_A;
-        state_in->result = 0;
-        state_in->stepcount = 0;
-    }
-
     char base64_encode_value(char value_in)
     {
         static const char* encoding = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz0123456789+/";