diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 46171109..c671a650 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@
 - [#2269](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2269) Added Azure China (and other air gaped cloud) support (@mblaschke)
 - [#2237](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2237) adds an option to append CA certificates (@emsixteeen)
 - [#2128](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2128) Update dependencies (@vllvll)
+- [#2239](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2312) Add possibility to encode the state param as UrlEncodedBase64 (@brezinajn)
 - [#2274](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2274) Upgrade golang.org/x/net to v0.17.0 (@pierluigilenoci)
 - [#2278](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2278) Improve the Nginx auth_request example (@akunzai)
 - [#2282](https://github.com/oauth2-proxy/oauth2-proxy/pull/2282) Fixed checking Google Groups membership using Google Application Credentials (@kvanzuijlen)
diff --git a/oauthproxy.go b/oauthproxy.go
index 5f6f8a58..964039ba 100644
--- a/oauthproxy.go
+++ b/oauthproxy.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"embed"
+	"encoding/base64"
 	"encoding/json"
 	"errors"
 	"fmt"
@@ -112,6 +113,7 @@ type OAuthProxy struct {
 	redirectValidator redirect.Validator
 	appDirector       redirect.AppDirector
 
+	encodeState bool
 	AuditClient *audit.Client
 }
 
@@ -253,6 +255,7 @@ func NewOAuthProxy(opts *options.Options, validator func(string) bool) (*OAuthPr
 		upstreamProxy:      upstreamProxy,
 		redirectValidator:  redirectValidator,
 		appDirector:        appDirector,
+		encodeState:        opts.EncodeState,
 		AuditClient:        auditClient,
 	}
 	p.buildServeMux(opts.ProxyPrefix)
@@ -820,7 +823,7 @@ func (p *OAuthProxy) doOAuthStart(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request, ove
 	callbackRedirect := p.getOAuthRedirectURI(req)
 	loginURL := p.provider.GetLoginURL(
 		callbackRedirect,
-		encodeState(csrf.HashOAuthState(), appRedirect),
+		encodeState(csrf.HashOAuthState(), appRedirect, p.encodeState),
 		csrf.HashOIDCNonce(),
 		extraParams,
 	)
@@ -878,7 +881,7 @@ func (p *OAuthProxy) OAuthCallback(rw http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 
 	csrf.ClearCookie(rw, req)
 
-	nonce, appRedirect, err := decodeState(req)
+	nonce, appRedirect, err := decodeState(req.Form.Get("state"), p.encodeState)
 	if err != nil {
 		logger.Errorf("Error while parsing OAuth2 state: %v", err)
 		p.ErrorPage(rw, req, http.StatusInternalServerError, err.Error())
@@ -1221,18 +1224,28 @@ func checkAllowedEmails(req *http.Request, s *sessionsapi.SessionState) bool {
 
 // encodedState builds the OAuth state param out of our nonce and
 // original application redirect
-func encodeState(nonce string, redirect string) string {
-	return fmt.Sprintf("%v:%v", nonce, redirect)
+func encodeState(nonce string, redirect string, encode bool) string {
+	rawString := fmt.Sprintf("%v:%v", nonce, redirect)
+	if encode {
+		return base64.RawURLEncoding.EncodeToString([]byte(rawString))
+	}
+	return rawString
 }
 
 // decodeState splits the reflected OAuth state response back into
 // the nonce and original application redirect
-func decodeState(req *http.Request) (string, string, error) {
-	state := strings.SplitN(req.Form.Get("state"), ":", 2)
-	if len(state) != 2 {
+func decodeState(state string, encode bool) (string, string, error) {
+	toParse := state
+	if encode {
+		decoded, _ := base64.RawURLEncoding.DecodeString(state)
+		toParse = string(decoded)
+	}
+
+	parsedState := strings.SplitN(toParse, ":", 2)
+	if len(parsedState) != 2 {
 		return "", "", errors.New("invalid length")
 	}
-	return state[0], state[1], nil
+	return parsedState[0], parsedState[1], nil
 }
 
 // addHeadersForProxying adds the appropriate headers the request / response for proxying
diff --git a/oauthproxy_test.go b/oauthproxy_test.go
index a27db6e2..772543f3 100644
--- a/oauthproxy_test.go
+++ b/oauthproxy_test.go
@@ -413,7 +413,7 @@ func (patTest *PassAccessTokenTest) getCallbackEndpoint() (httpCode int, cookie
 		http.MethodGet,
 		fmt.Sprintf(
 			"/oauth2/callback?code=callback_code&state=%s",
-			encodeState(csrf.HashOAuthState(), "%2F"),
+			encodeState(csrf.HashOAuthState(), "%2F", false),
 		),
 		strings.NewReader(""),
 	)
@@ -3288,6 +3288,29 @@ func TestAuthOnlyAllowedEmailDomains(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 }
 
+func TestStateEncodesCorrectly(t *testing.T) {
+	state := "some_state_to_test"
+	nonce := "some_nonce_to_test"
+
+	encodedResult := encodeState(nonce, state, true)
+	assert.Equal(t, "c29tZV9ub25jZV90b190ZXN0OnNvbWVfc3RhdGVfdG9fdGVzdA", encodedResult)
+
+	notEncodedResult := encodeState(nonce, state, false)
+	assert.Equal(t, "some_nonce_to_test:some_state_to_test", notEncodedResult)
+}
+
+func TestStateDecodesCorrectly(t *testing.T) {
+	nonce, redirect, _ := decodeState("c29tZV9ub25jZV90b190ZXN0OnNvbWVfc3RhdGVfdG9fdGVzdA", true)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, "some_nonce_to_test", nonce)
+	assert.Equal(t, "some_state_to_test", redirect)
+
+	nonce2, redirect2, _ := decodeState("some_nonce_to_test:some_state_to_test", false)
+
+	assert.Equal(t, "some_nonce_to_test", nonce2)
+	assert.Equal(t, "some_state_to_test", redirect2)
+}
+
 func TestAuthOnlyAllowedEmails(t *testing.T) {
 	testCases := []struct {
 		name               string
diff --git a/pkg/apis/options/options.go b/pkg/apis/options/options.go
index 95c45729..a1a85816 100644
--- a/pkg/apis/options/options.go
+++ b/pkg/apis/options/options.go
@@ -61,6 +61,7 @@ type Options struct {
 	SSLInsecureSkipVerify bool     `flag:"ssl-insecure-skip-verify" cfg:"ssl_insecure_skip_verify"`
 	SkipAuthPreflight     bool     `flag:"skip-auth-preflight" cfg:"skip_auth_preflight"`
 	ForceJSONErrors       bool     `flag:"force-json-errors" cfg:"force_json_errors"`
+	EncodeState           bool     `flag:"encode-state" cfg:"encode_state"`
 	AllowQuerySemicolons  bool     `flag:"allow-query-semicolons" cfg:"allow_query_semicolons"`
 
 	SignatureKey    string `flag:"signature-key" cfg:"signature_key"`
@@ -135,6 +136,7 @@ func NewFlagSet() *pflag.FlagSet {
 	flagSet.Bool("ssl-insecure-skip-verify", false, "skip validation of certificates presented when using HTTPS providers")
 	flagSet.Bool("skip-jwt-bearer-tokens", false, "will skip requests that have verified JWT bearer tokens (default false)")
 	flagSet.Bool("force-json-errors", false, "will force JSON errors instead of HTTP error pages or redirects")
+	flagSet.Bool("encode-state", false, "will encode oauth state with base64")
 	flagSet.Bool("allow-query-semicolons", false, "allow the use of semicolons in query args")
 	flagSet.StringSlice("extra-jwt-issuers", []string{}, "if skip-jwt-bearer-tokens is set, a list of extra JWT issuer=audience pairs (where the issuer URL has a .well-known/openid-configuration or a .well-known/jwks.json)")