diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index eefc178e..e4cdf961 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -16,6 +16,8 @@
 - Fix key base equality and spaceship operators [#569](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/pull/569) - [@magneland](https://github.com/magneland).
 - Remove explicit base64 require from x5c_key_finder [#580](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/pull/580) - [@anakinj](https://github.com/anakinj).
 - Performance improvements and cleanup of tests [#581](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/pull/581) - [@anakinj](https://github.com/anakinj).
+- Explicit dependency to the base64 gem [#582](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/pull/582) - [@anakinj](https://github.com/anakinj).
+- Deprecation warning for decoding content not compliant with RFC 4648 [#582](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/pull/582) - [@anakinj](https://github.com/anakinj).
 - Your contribution here
 
 ## [v2.7.1](https://github.com/jwt/ruby-jwt/tree/v2.8.0) (2023-06-09)
diff --git a/lib/jwt/base64.rb b/lib/jwt/base64.rb
index e69808b1..f6c47684 100644
--- a/lib/jwt/base64.rb
+++ b/lib/jwt/base64.rb
@@ -3,14 +3,26 @@
 require 'base64'
 
 module JWT
-  # Base64 helpers
+  # Base64 encoding and decoding
   class Base64
     class << self
+      # Encode a string with URL-safe Base64 complying with RFC 4648 (not padded).
       def url_encode(str)
-        ::Base64.encode64(str).tr('+/', '-_').gsub(/[\n=]/, '')
+        ::Base64.urlsafe_encode64(str, padding: false)
       end
 
+      # Decode a string with URL-safe Base64 complying with RFC 4648.
+      # Deprecated support for RFC 2045 remains for now. ("All line breaks or other characters not found in Table 1 must be ignored by decoding software")
       def url_decode(str)
+        ::Base64.urlsafe_decode64(str)
+      rescue ArgumentError => e
+        raise unless e.message == 'invalid base64'
+
+        warn('[DEPRECATION] Invalid base64 input detected, could be because of invalid padding, trailing whitespaces or newline chars. Graceful handling of invalid input will be dropped in the next major version of ruby-jwt')
+        loose_urlsafe_decode64(str)
+      end
+
+      def loose_urlsafe_decode64(str)
         str += '=' * (4 - str.length.modulo(4))
         ::Base64.decode64(str.tr('-_', '+/'))
       end
diff --git a/ruby-jwt.gemspec b/ruby-jwt.gemspec
index 91177b3f..67ff3911 100644
--- a/ruby-jwt.gemspec
+++ b/ruby-jwt.gemspec
@@ -31,6 +31,8 @@ Gem::Specification.new do |spec|
   spec.executables = []
   spec.require_paths = %w[lib]
 
+  spec.add_dependency 'base64'
+
   spec.add_development_dependency 'appraisal'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'bundler'
   spec.add_development_dependency 'rake'
diff --git a/spec/jwt/x5c_key_finder_spec.rb b/spec/jwt/x5c_key_finder_spec.rb
index 7ebfc4f7..001feaa6 100644
--- a/spec/jwt/x5c_key_finder_spec.rb
+++ b/spec/jwt/x5c_key_finder_spec.rb
@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@
 
   let(:crl) { issue_crl([], issuer: root_certificate, issuer_key: root_key) }
 
-  let(:x5c_header) { [Base64.strict_encode64(leaf_certificate.to_der)] }
+  let(:x5c_header) { [Base64.encode64(leaf_certificate.to_der)] }
   subject(:keyfinder) { described_class.new([root_certificate], [crl]).from(x5c_header) }
 
   it 'returns the public key from a certificate that is signed by trusted roots and not revoked' do