diff --git a/externals/base64.h b/common/base64.cpp
similarity index 99%
rename from externals/base64.h
rename to common/base64.cpp
index feda6a0e..37608703 100644
--- a/externals/base64.h
+++ b/common/base64.cpp
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
    René Nyffenegger rene.nyffenegger@adp-gmbh.ch
 
 */
+#include <common/base64.h>
 
 static const std::string base64_chars = 
              "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
diff --git a/common/base64.h b/common/base64.h
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..4ebf89d7
--- /dev/null
+++ b/common/base64.h
@@ -0,0 +1,25 @@
+/***
+    This file is part of snapcast
+    Copyright (C) 2017-2017  https://github.com/frafall
+
+    This program is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+    it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+    the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+    (at your option) any later version.
+
+    This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+    but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+    MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+    GNU General Public License for more details.
+
+    You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+    along with this program.  If not, see <http://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+***/
+
+#ifndef BASE64_H
+#define BASE64_H
+#include <string>
+
+std::string base64_encode(unsigned char const* bytes_to_encode, unsigned int in_len);
+std::string base64_decode(std::string const& encoded_string);
+#endif 
diff --git a/server/Makefile b/server/Makefile
index 94f9cb35..2e6ecf5f 100644
--- a/server/Makefile
+++ b/server/Makefile
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ DEBUG=-O3
 
 CXXFLAGS += $(ADD_CFLAGS) -std=c++0x -Wall -Wno-unused-function $(DEBUG) -DASIO_STANDALONE -DVERSION=\"$(VERSION)\" -I. -I.. -isystem ../externals/asio/asio/include -I../externals/popl/include -I../externals/aixlog/include -I../externals/jsonrpcpp/lib -I../externals
 LDFLAGS   = -lvorbis -lvorbisenc -logg -lFLAC 
-OBJ       = snapServer.o config.o controlServer.o controlSession.o streamServer.o streamSession.o streamreader/streamUri.o streamreader/streamManager.o streamreader/pcmStream.o streamreader/pipeStream.o streamreader/fileStream.o streamreader/processStream.o streamreader/airplayStream.o streamreader/spotifyStream.o streamreader/watchdog.o encoder/encoderFactory.o encoder/flacEncoder.o encoder/pcmEncoder.o encoder/oggEncoder.o ../common/sampleFormat.o ../message/pcmChunk.o ../externals/jsonrpcpp/lib/jsonrp.o
+OBJ       = snapServer.o config.o controlServer.o controlSession.o streamServer.o streamSession.o streamreader/streamUri.o streamreader/streamManager.o streamreader/pcmStream.o streamreader/pipeStream.o streamreader/fileStream.o streamreader/processStream.o streamreader/airplayStream.o streamreader/spotifyStream.o streamreader/watchdog.o encoder/encoderFactory.o encoder/flacEncoder.o encoder/pcmEncoder.o encoder/oggEncoder.o ../common/sampleFormat.o ../message/pcmChunk.o ../externals/jsonrpcpp/lib/jsonrp.o ../common/base64.o
 
 
 ifneq (,$(TARGET))
diff --git a/server/streamreader/airplayStream.cpp b/server/streamreader/airplayStream.cpp
index 511cd8f3..5995659a 100644
--- a/server/streamreader/airplayStream.cpp
+++ b/server/streamreader/airplayStream.cpp
@@ -20,12 +20,9 @@
 #include "common/snapException.h"
 #include "common/utils/string_utils.h"
 #include "common/utils.h"
+#include "common/base64.h"
 #include "aixlog.hpp"
 
-#ifdef HAS_EXPAT
-#include "base64.h"
-#endif
-
 using namespace std;
 
 static string hex2str(string input)