diff --git a/Cargo.lock b/Cargo.lock
index dbe6096c6..79cf460d9 100644
--- a/Cargo.lock
+++ b/Cargo.lock
@@ -287,7 +287,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "arrow-schema",
  "arrow-select",
  "atoi",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "chrono",
  "comfy-table",
  "half",
@@ -335,7 +335,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "arrow-cast",
  "arrow-ipc",
  "arrow-schema",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "futures",
  "prost",
@@ -1064,6 +1064,12 @@ version = "0.22.1"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "72b3254f16251a8381aa12e40e3c4d2f0199f8c6508fbecb9d91f575e0fbb8c6"
 
+[[package]]
+name = "base64"
+version = "0.23.0"
+source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
+checksum = "b25655df2c3cdd83c5e5b293b88acd880332b2ddadd7c30ac43144fdc0033da9"
+
 [[package]]
 name = "base64-simd"
 version = "0.8.0"
@@ -2193,6 +2199,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "arrow-ipc",
  "arrow-select",
  "async-trait",
+ "base64 0.23.0",
  "bincode",
  "bytes",
  "chrono",
@@ -2282,6 +2289,7 @@ version = "0.1.0"
 dependencies = [
  "arrow",
  "async-trait",
+ "base64 0.23.0",
  "color-eyre",
  "crossterm",
  "datafusion",
@@ -2368,7 +2376,7 @@ checksum = "14872c47bfc3d21e53ec82f57074e6987a15941c1e2f43cde4ac6ae2746634e3"
 dependencies = [
  "arrow",
  "arrow-buffer",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "blake2",
  "blake3",
  "chrono",
@@ -3599,7 +3607,7 @@ version = "0.1.20"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "96547c2556ec9d12fb1578c4eaf448b04993e7fb79cbaad930a656880a6bdfa0"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "futures-channel",
  "futures-util",
@@ -4436,7 +4444,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "622acbc9100d3c10e2ee15804b0caa40e55c933d5aa53814cd520805b7958a49"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "chrono",
  "form_urlencoded",
@@ -4617,7 +4625,7 @@ dependencies = [
  "arrow-ipc",
  "arrow-schema",
  "arrow-select",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "brotli",
  "bytes",
  "chrono",
@@ -5347,7 +5355,7 @@ version = "0.12.28"
 source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "eddd3ca559203180a307f12d114c268abf583f59b03cb906fd0b3ff8646c1147"
 dependencies = [
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "encoding_rs",
  "futures-core",
@@ -6072,7 +6080,7 @@ source = "registry+https://github.com/rust-lang/crates.io-index"
 checksum = "4676b37242ccbd1aabf56edb093a4827dc49086c0ffd764a5705899e0f35f8f7"
 dependencies = [
  "anyhow",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bitflags 2.11.1",
  "fancy-regex",
  "filedescriptor",
@@ -6376,7 +6384,7 @@ checksum = "ac2a5518c70fa84342385732db33fb3f44bc4cc748936eb5833d2df34d6445ef"
 dependencies = [
  "async-trait",
  "axum 0.8.9",
- "base64",
+ "base64 0.22.1",
  "bytes",
  "h2 0.4.14",
  "http 1.4.0",
diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index 79366ed33..901600717 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -59,6 +59,7 @@ insta = { version = "1.46.0", features = ["filters"], optional = true }
 parquet = { version = "58", optional = true }
 arrow = { version = "58", optional = true, features = ["test_utils"] }
 hyper-util = { version = "0.1.16", optional = true }
+base64 = "0.23.0"
 
 [features]
 default = ["grpc"]
diff --git a/console/Cargo.toml b/console/Cargo.toml
index 5267842e2..c81ed99d5 100644
--- a/console/Cargo.toml
+++ b/console/Cargo.toml
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ tonic = "0.14.2"
 datafusion-distributed = { path = "..", features = ["integration", "system-metrics"] }
 url = "2.5.7"
 tokio-stream = "0.1.18"
+base64 = "0.23.0"
 
 [dev-dependencies]
 arrow = "58"
diff --git a/console/src/main.rs b/console/src/main.rs
index 731b504ba..dbf0cce97 100644
--- a/console/src/main.rs
+++ b/console/src/main.rs
@@ -5,6 +5,8 @@ mod ui;
 mod worker;
 
 use app::App;
+use base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD;
+use base64::engine::Engine;
 use crossterm::event::{self, Event};
 use ratatui::DefaultTerminal;
 use std::time::{Duration, Instant};
@@ -24,6 +26,10 @@ struct Args {
     /// Polling interval in milliseconds
     #[structopt(long = "poll-interval", default_value = "100")]
     poll_interval: u64,
+
+    /// Decode and print a base64-encoded plan string produced by explain_analyze.
+    #[structopt(long = "encoded-plan")]
+    encoded_plan: Option<String>,
 }
 
 #[tokio::main]
@@ -32,6 +38,14 @@ async fn main() -> color_eyre::Result<()> {
 
     let args = Args::from_args();
 
+    if let Some(encoded) = args.encoded_plan {
+        let decoded = Engine::decode(&STANDARD, &encoded)
+            .map(|b| String::from_utf8_lossy(&b).into_owned())
+            .unwrap_or(encoded);
+        println!("{decoded}");
+        return Ok(());
+    }
+
     let seed_url = Url::parse(&format!("http://localhost:{}", args.port)).expect("valid URL");
 
     let poll_interval = Duration::from_millis(args.poll_interval);
diff --git a/src/coordinator/distributed.rs b/src/coordinator/distributed.rs
index cb126a884..ba90050c6 100644
--- a/src/coordinator/distributed.rs
+++ b/src/coordinator/distributed.rs
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+use base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD;
+use base64::engine::Engine;
 use crate::common::require_one_child;
 use crate::coordinator::metrics_store::MetricsStore;
 use crate::coordinator::prepare_dynamic_plan::prepare_dynamic_plan;
@@ -134,6 +136,12 @@ impl DistributedExec {
             .clone()
             .ok_or_else(|| internal_datafusion_err!("No head stage found. Was execute() called?"))
     }
+    /// Decodes a base64-encoded plan string produced by [`explain_analyze`](crate::explain_analyze).
+    pub fn extract_encoded_plan(&self, encoded_plan: &str) -> String {
+        Engine::decode(&STANDARD, encoded_plan)
+        .map(|bytes| String::from_utf8_lossy(&bytes).into_owned())
+        .unwrap_or_else(|_| encoded_plan.to_string())
+    }
 }
 
 impl DisplayAs for DistributedExec {
diff --git a/src/stage.rs b/src/stage.rs
index 7903a48a9..6765b34d4 100644
--- a/src/stage.rs
+++ b/src/stage.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,7 @@
+use base64::engine::general_purpose::STANDARD;
+use base64::engine::Engine;
 use crate::coordinator::{DistributedExec, MetricsStore};
+
 use crate::execution_plans::{DistributedLeafExec, NetworkCoalesceExec};
 use crate::metrics::DISTRIBUTED_DATAFUSION_TASK_ID_LABEL;
 use datafusion::common::{HashMap, Statistics, config_err};
@@ -252,7 +255,12 @@ pub async fn explain_analyze(
             .to_string()),
         Some(_) => {
             let executed = rewrite_distributed_plan_with_metrics(executed.clone(), format).await?;
-            Ok(display_plan_ascii(executed.as_ref(), true))
+            let display_string = display_plan_ascii(executed.as_ref(), true);
+            if display_string.len() >= 10_000 {
+                Ok(Engine::encode(&STANDARD, display_string.as_bytes()))
+            } else {
+                Ok(display_string)
+            }
         }
     }
 }