diff --git a/apns2/credentials.py b/apns2/credentials.py
index 028093e..7e3a426 100644
--- a/apns2/credentials.py
+++ b/apns2/credentials.py
@@ -1,5 +1,6 @@
 import time
 from typing import Optional, Tuple, TYPE_CHECKING
+from base64 import b64decode
 
 import jwt
 
@@ -43,9 +44,13 @@ def __init__(self, cert_file: Optional[str] = None, password: Optional[str] = No
 # Credentials subclass for JWT token based authentication
 class TokenCredentials(Credentials):
     def __init__(self, auth_key_path: str, auth_key_id: str, team_id: str,
+                 auth_key_base64: Optional[str] = None,
                  encryption_algorithm: str = DEFAULT_TOKEN_ENCRYPTION_ALGORITHM,
                  token_lifetime: int = DEFAULT_TOKEN_LIFETIME) -> None:
-        self.__auth_key = self._get_signing_key(auth_key_path)
+        if auth_key_base64 is not None:
+            self.__auth_key = self._decode_signing_key(auth_key_base64)
+        else:
+            self.__auth_key = self._get_signing_key(auth_key_path)
         self.__auth_key_id = auth_key_id
         self.__team_id = team_id
         self.__encryption_algorithm = encryption_algorithm
@@ -71,6 +76,13 @@ def _get_signing_key(key_path: str) -> str:
                 secret = f.read()
         return secret
 
+    @staticmethod
+    def _decode_signing_key(key_base64: str) -> str:
+        secret = ''
+        if key_base64:
+            secret = b64decode(key_base64).decode()
+        return secret
+
     def _get_or_create_topic_token(self) -> str:
         # dict of topic to issue date and JWT token
         token_pair = self.__jwt_token
diff --git a/test/test_credentials.py b/test/test_credentials.py
index 21b1eab..9899113 100644
--- a/test/test_credentials.py
+++ b/test/test_credentials.py
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@
 # - timing out of the token
 # - creating multiple tokens for different topics
 
+from base64 import b64encode
 import pytest
 from freezegun import freeze_time
 
@@ -21,6 +22,10 @@ def token_credentials():
         token_lifetime=30,  # seconds
     )
 
+def test_auth_key_base64():
+    with open('test/eckey.pem', 'rb') as f:
+        auth_key_base64 = b64encode(f.read()).decode()
+    assert TokenCredentials._get_signing_key('test/eckey.pem') == TokenCredentials._decode_signing_key(auth_key_base64)
 
 def test_token_expiration(token_credentials):
     with freeze_time('2012-01-14 12:00:00'):