diff --git a/src/core/lib/Base32.mjs b/src/core/lib/Base32.mjs
index 92b76eca74..007b6b32a0 100644
--- a/src/core/lib/Base32.mjs
+++ b/src/core/lib/Base32.mjs
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
 // import Utils from "../Utils.mjs";
 
+import OperationError from "../errors/OperationError.mjs";
+import Utils from "../Utils.mjs";
+
 /**
  * Base32 resources.
  *
@@ -21,3 +24,96 @@ export const ALPHABET_OPTIONS = [
     },
 ];
 
+/**
+ * Decode the Base32 input string using the given alphabet, returning a byte array.
+ * @param {*} data
+ * @param {string} [alphabet="A-Z0-7="]
+ * @param {*} [returnType="string"] - Either "string" or "byteArray"
+ * @param {boolean} [removeNonAlphChars=true]
+ * @returns {byteArray}
+ *
+ * @example
+ * // returns "Hello"
+ * fromBase32("JBSWY3DP")
+ *
+ * // returns [72, 101, 108, 108, 111]
+ * fromBase32("JBSWY3DP", null, "byteArray")
+ */
+export function fromBase32(data, alphabet="A-Z0-7=", returnType="string", removeNonAlphChars=true, strictMode=false) {
+    if (!data) {
+        return returnType === "string" ? "" : [];
+    }
+
+    alphabet = alphabet || ALPHABET_OPTIONS[0].value;
+    alphabet = Utils.expandAlphRange(alphabet).join("");
+
+    // Confirm alphabet is a valid length
+    if (alphabet.length !== 32 && alphabet.length !== 33) { // Allow for padding
+        throw new OperationError(`Error: Base32 alphabet should be 32 characters long, or 33 with  a padding character. Found ${alphabet.length}: ${alphabet}`);
+    }
+
+    // Remove non-alphabet characters
+    if (removeNonAlphChars) {
+        const re = new RegExp("[^" + alphabet.replace(/[[\]\\\-^$]/g, "\\$&") + "]", "g");
+        data = data.replace(re, "");
+    }
+
+    if (strictMode) {
+        // Check for incorrect lengths (even without padding)
+        if (data.length % 8 === 1) {
+            throw new OperationError(`Error: Invalid Base32 input length (${data.length}). Cannot be 8n+1, even without padding chars.`);
+        }
+
+        if (alphabet.length === 33) { // Padding character included
+            const pad = alphabet.charAt(32);
+            const padPos = data.indexOf(pad);
+            if (padPos >= 0) {
+                // Check that the padding character is only used at the end and maximum of 6 times
+                if (padPos < data.length - 6 || data.charAt(data.length - 1) !== pad) {
+                    throw new OperationError(`Error: Base32 padding character (${pad}) not used in the correct place.`);
+                }
+
+                // Check that the input is padded to the correct length
+                if (data.length % 8 !== 0) {
+                    throw new OperationError("Error: Base32 not padded to a multiple of 8.");
+                }
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+    const output = [];
+
+    let chr1, chr2, chr3, chr4, chr5,
+        enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4, enc5,
+        enc6, enc7, enc8, i = 0;
+
+    while (i < data.length) {
+        // Including `|| null` forces empty strings to null so that indexOf returns -1 instead of 0
+        enc1 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++));
+        enc2 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc3 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc4 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc5 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc6 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc7 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+        enc8 = alphabet.indexOf(data.charAt(i++) || null);
+
+        if (strictMode && [enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4, enc5, enc6, enc7, enc8].some(enc => enc < 0)) {
+            throw new OperationError("Error: Base32 input contains non-alphabet char(s)");
+        }
+
+        chr1 = (enc1 << 3) | (enc2 >> 2);
+        chr2 = ((enc2 & 3) << 6) | (enc3 << 1) | (enc4 >> 4);
+        chr3 = ((enc4 & 15) << 4) | (enc5 >> 1);
+        chr4 = ((enc5 & 1) << 7) | (enc6 << 2) | (enc7 >> 3);
+        chr5 = ((enc7 & 7) << 5) | enc8;
+
+        if (chr1 >= 0 && chr1 < 256) output.push(chr1);
+        if (((enc2 & 3) !== 0 || enc3 !== 32) && (chr2 >= 0 && chr2 < 256)) output.push(chr2);
+        if (((enc4 & 15) !== 0 || enc5 !== 32) && (chr3 >= 0 && chr3 < 256)) output.push(chr3);
+        if (((enc5 & 1) !== 0 || enc6 !== 32) && (chr4 >= 0 && chr4 < 256)) output.push(chr4);
+        if (((enc7 & 7) !== 0 || enc8 !== 32) && (chr5 >= 0 && chr5 < 256)) output.push(chr5);
+    }
+
+    return returnType === "string" ? Utils.byteArrayToUtf8(output) : output;
+}
diff --git a/src/core/operations/FromBase32.mjs b/src/core/operations/FromBase32.mjs
index 8ee0f1f872..6c6f9cb8fc 100644
--- a/src/core/operations/FromBase32.mjs
+++ b/src/core/operations/FromBase32.mjs
@@ -5,8 +5,7 @@
  */
 
 import Operation from "../Operation.mjs";
-import Utils from "../Utils.mjs";
-import {ALPHABET_OPTIONS} from "../lib/Base32.mjs";
+import {ALPHABET_OPTIONS, fromBase32} from "../lib/Base32.mjs";
 
 
 /**
@@ -36,6 +35,11 @@ class FromBase32 extends Operation {
                 name: "Remove non-alphabet chars",
                 type: "boolean",
                 value: true
+            },
+            {
+                name: "Strict mode",
+                type: "boolean",
+                value: false
             }
         ];
         this.checks = [
@@ -58,46 +62,8 @@ class FromBase32 extends Operation {
      * @returns {byteArray}
      */
     run(input, args) {
-        if (!input) return [];
-
-        const alphabet = args[0] ?
-                Utils.expandAlphRange(args[0]).join("") : "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ234567=",
-            removeNonAlphChars = args[1],
-            output = [];
-
-        let chr1, chr2, chr3, chr4, chr5,
-            enc1, enc2, enc3, enc4, enc5, enc6, enc7, enc8,
-            i = 0;
-
-        if (removeNonAlphChars) {
-            const re = new RegExp("[^" + alphabet.replace(/[\]\\\-^]/g, "\\$&") + "]", "g");
-            input = input.replace(re, "");
-        }
-
-        while (i < input.length) {
-            enc1 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++));
-            enc2 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc3 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc4 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc5 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc6 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc7 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-            enc8 = alphabet.indexOf(input.charAt(i++) || "=");
-
-            chr1 = (enc1 << 3) | (enc2 >> 2);
-            chr2 = ((enc2 & 3) << 6) | (enc3 << 1) | (enc4 >> 4);
-            chr3 = ((enc4 & 15) << 4) | (enc5 >> 1);
-            chr4 = ((enc5 & 1) << 7) | (enc6 << 2) | (enc7 >> 3);
-            chr5 = ((enc7 & 7) << 5) | enc8;
-
-            output.push(chr1);
-            if ((enc2 & 3) !== 0 || enc3 !== 32) output.push(chr2);
-            if ((enc4 & 15) !== 0 || enc5 !== 32) output.push(chr3);
-            if ((enc5 & 1) !== 0 || enc6 !== 32) output.push(chr4);
-            if ((enc7 & 7) !== 0 || enc8 !== 32) output.push(chr5);
-        }
-
-        return output;
+        const [alphabet, removeNonAlphChars, strictMode] = args;
+        return fromBase32(input, alphabet, "byteArray", removeNonAlphChars, strictMode);
     }
 
 }