diff --git a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
index b7ac5bc..cc5759a 100644
--- a/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
+++ b/packages/markitdown/src/markitdown/_markitdown.py
@@ -73,6 +73,19 @@ def _load_plugins() -> Union[None | List[Any]]:
 
     return _plugins
 
+def isBase64(sb):
+    """
+    checks if the input object is base64
+    """
+    try:
+        if isinstance(sb, str):
+            sb = re.sub(r"^data:.*base64,", "", sb)
+            sb_bytes = bytes(sb, "ascii")
+        elif isinstance(sb, bytes):
+            sb_bytes = sb
+        return base64.b64encode(base64.b64decode(sb_bytes)) == sb_bytes
+    except Exception:
+        return False
 
 class MarkItDown:
     """(In preview) An extremely simple text-based document reader, suitable for LLM use.
@@ -175,29 +188,65 @@ class MarkItDown:
             warn("Plugins converters are already enabled.", RuntimeWarning)
 
     def convert(
-        self, source: Union[str, requests.Response, Path], **kwargs: Any
+        self, source: Union[str, requests.Response, Path], input_type: Literal["auto", "local_file", "url", "base64", "bytes", "request_response"] = "auto", **kwargs: Any
     ) -> DocumentConverterResult:  # TODO: deal with kwargs
         """
         Args:
             - source: can be a string representing a path either as string pathlib path object or url, or a requests.response object
+            - input_type: specifies the input type. If set to "auto", the function will try to automatically determine the type.
             - extension: specifies the file extension to use when interpreting the file. If None, infer from source (path, uri, content-type, etc.)
         """
 
-        # Local path or url
-        if isinstance(source, str):
-            if (
-                source.startswith("http://")
-                or source.startswith("https://")
-                or source.startswith("file://")
-            ):
-                return self.convert_url(source, **kwargs)
+        if input_type == "auto":
+            # Check if source is Local path or url
+            if isinstance(source, str):
+                if (
+                    source.startswith("http://")
+                    or source.startswith("https://")
+                    or source.startswith("file://")
+                ):
+                    input_type = "url"
+                elif os.path.isfile(source):
+                    input_type = "local_file"
+                elif isBase64(source):
+                    input_type = "base64"
+            # Check if source is a Request response
+            elif isinstance(source, requests.Response):
+                input_type = "request_response"
+            # Check if source is a local file path
+            elif isinstance(source, Path):
+                input_type = "local_file"
+            # Check if source is a Base64 encoded string
+            elif isBase64(source):
+                input_type = "base64"
+            # Check if source is a bytes object
+            elif isinstance(source, bytes):
+                input_type = "bytes"
             else:
-                return self.convert_local(source, **kwargs)
-        # Request response
-        elif isinstance(source, requests.Response):
-            return self.convert_response(source, **kwargs)
-        elif isinstance(source, Path):
+                raise ValueError(f"Unable to determine input type: {type(source)}")
+
+        elif input_type == "url":
+            return self.convert_url(source, **kwargs)
+        elif input_type == "local_file":
             return self.convert_local(source, **kwargs)
+        elif input_type == "bytes" or input_type == "base64":
+            if input_type == "base64":
+                source = re.sub(r"^data:.*base64,", "", source)
+                source = base64.b64decode(source)
+            try:
+                with tempfile.NamedTemporaryFile(delete=False) as tmp_file:
+                    tmp_file.write(source)
+                    tmp_file.flush() # Ensure data is written to file
+                    return self.convert_local(tmp_file.name, **kwargs)
+            except Exception as e:
+                raise e
+            finally:
+                if os.path.exists(tmp_file.name):
+                    os.remove(tmp_file.name)
+        elif input_type == "request_response":
+            return self.convert_response(source, **kwargs) 
+        else:
+            raise ValueError(f"Invalid input type: {input_type}")
 
     def convert_local(
         self, path: Union[str, Path], **kwargs: Any