diff --git a/docs/cli.rst b/docs/cli.rst
index 013d323..f3892ca 100644
--- a/docs/cli.rst
+++ b/docs/cli.rst
@@ -65,10 +65,10 @@ Binary strings are not valid JSON, so BLOB columns containing binary data will b
     $ sqlite-utils dogs.db "select name, content from images" | python -mjson.tool
     [
         {
-            "name": "smile.gif",
+            "name": "transparent.gif",
             "content": {
                 "$base64": true,
-                "encoded": "eJzt0c1x..."
+                "encoded": "R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"
             }
         }
     ]
@@ -295,6 +295,18 @@ If you feed it a JSON list it will insert multiple records. For example, if ``do
         }
     ]
 
+You can insert binary data into a BLOB column by first encoding it using base64 and then structuring it like this::
+
+    [
+        {
+            "name": "transparent.gif",
+            "content": {
+                "$base64": true,
+                "encoded": "R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7"
+            }
+        }
+    ]
+
 You can import all three records into an automatically created ``dogs`` table and set the ``id`` column as the primary key like so::
 
     $ sqlite-utils insert dogs.db dogs dogs.json --pk=id
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/cli.py b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
index 155ea54..219c0bf 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/cli.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/cli.py
@@ -8,7 +8,7 @@ import json
 import sys
 import csv as csv_std
 import tabulate
-from .utils import sqlite3
+from .utils import sqlite3, decode_base64_values
 
 VALID_COLUMN_TYPES = ("INTEGER", "TEXT", "FLOAT", "BLOB")
 
@@ -451,6 +451,8 @@ def insert_upsert_implementation(
         extra_kwargs["defaults"] = dict(default)
     if upsert:
         extra_kwargs["upsert"] = upsert
+    # Apply {"$base64": true, ...} decoding, if needed
+    docs = (decode_base64_values(doc) for doc in docs)
     db[table].insert_all(
         docs, pk=pk, batch_size=batch_size, alter=alter, **extra_kwargs
     )
diff --git a/sqlite_utils/utils.py b/sqlite_utils/utils.py
index ecb3568..e2d3451 100644
--- a/sqlite_utils/utils.py
+++ b/sqlite_utils/utils.py
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+import base64
+
 try:
     import pysqlite3 as sqlite3
     import pysqlite3.dbapi2
@@ -58,3 +60,17 @@ def column_affinity(column_type):
         return float
     # Default is 'NUMERIC', which we currently also treat as float
     return float
+
+
+def decode_base64_values(doc):
+    # Looks for '{"$base64": true..., "encoded": ...}' values and decodes them
+    to_fix = [
+        k
+        for k in doc
+        if isinstance(doc[k], dict)
+        and doc[k].get("$base64") is True
+        and "encoded" in doc[k]
+    ]
+    if not to_fix:
+        return doc
+    return dict(doc, **{k: base64.b64decode(doc[k]["encoded"]) for k in to_fix})
diff --git a/tests/test_cli.py b/tests/test_cli.py
index 4012c97..2156def 100644
--- a/tests/test_cli.py
+++ b/tests/test_cli.py
@@ -554,6 +554,18 @@ def test_insert_not_null_default(db_path, tmpdir):
     ) == db["dogs"].schema
 
 
+def test_insert_binary_base64(db_path):
+    result = CliRunner().invoke(
+        cli.cli,
+        ["insert", db_path, "files", "-"],
+        input=r'{"content": {"$base64": true, "encoded": "aGVsbG8="}}',
+    )
+    assert 0 == result.exit_code, result.output
+    db = Database(db_path)
+    actual = db.execute_returning_dicts("select content from files")
+    assert actual == [{"content": b"hello"}]
+
+
 def test_insert_newline_delimited(db_path):
     result = CliRunner().invoke(
         cli.cli,
diff --git a/tests/test_utils.py b/tests/test_utils.py
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6489f2b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_utils.py
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+from sqlite_utils import utils
+import pytest
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "input,expected,should_be_is",
+    [
+        ({}, None, True),
+        ({"foo": "bar"}, None, True),
+        (
+            {"content": {"$base64": True, "encoded": "aGVsbG8="}},
+            {"content": b"hello"},
+            False,
+        ),
+    ],
+)
+def test_decode_base64_values(input, expected, should_be_is):
+    actual = utils.decode_base64_values(input)
+    if should_be_is:
+        assert actual is input
+    else:
+        assert actual == expected