diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 02816ca8ce..7ff341b08a 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -22,6 +22,16 @@ should change the heading of the (upcoming) version to include a major version b
 
 - Added support for `UiSchema` `"ui:rows"` option for `textarea` elements, fixing [#4070](https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/4070).
 
+# @rjsf/utils
+
+- [#4080](https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/4080) - BREAKING CHANGE: Removed the `base64` object from the `@rjsf/utils` package. Note that this is a breaking change if you relied on the `base64` object exported by `@rjsf/utils`. Since this change caused [#4080](https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/4080), and was only internally used by playground code, we are shipping this change in a patch release.
+
+## Dev / docs / playground
+
+- [#4080](https://github.com/rjsf-team/react-jsonschema-form/issues/4080) - Moved the `base64` encoder/decoder object to the Playground package. 
+- Added test configuration and script to the Playground. 
+
+
 # 5.17.0
 
 ## @rjsf/core
diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index cb795cf535..6fe7a25489 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -34844,7 +34844,9 @@
         "@material-ui/icons": "^4.11.3",
         "@monaco-editor/react": "^4.6.0",
         "@mui/icons-material": "5.15.2",
+        "@types/jest": "^29.5.12",
         "@types/lodash": "^4.14.202",
+        "@types/node": "^18.19.14",
         "@types/react-frame-component": "^4.1.6",
         "@vitejs/plugin-react": "^4.2.1",
         "cross-env": "^7.0.3",
@@ -34853,6 +34855,8 @@
         "gh-pages": "^3.2.3",
         "html": "^1.0.0",
         "html-webpack-plugin": "^5.6.0",
+        "jest": "^29.7.0",
+        "jest-environment-jsdom": "^29.7.0",
         "loader-utils": "^3.2.1",
         "mini-css-extract-plugin": "^2.8.0",
         "prettier": "^2.8.8",
diff --git a/packages/docs/docs/api-reference/utility-functions.md b/packages/docs/docs/api-reference/utility-functions.md
index 70a857fee5..fdee1aa0f6 100644
--- a/packages/docs/docs/api-reference/utility-functions.md
+++ b/packages/docs/docs/api-reference/utility-functions.md
@@ -1181,34 +1181,3 @@ For more information about how to specify the path see the [eslint lodash plugin
 #### Returns
 
 - ErrorSchemaBuilder<T> - The instance of the `ErrorSchemaBuilder` class
-
-## utility object
-
-### base64
-
-An object providing base64 encoding and decoding functions using the UTF-8 charset.
-By default, the `btoa()` and `atob()` built-in functions are only support the Latin-1 character range that means that non Latin-1 characters are not supported(for example, Chinese characters).
-
-#### encode()
-
-Encodes the given `input` string into a base64 encoded string
-
-##### Parameters
-
-- input: string - The string to encode
-
-##### Returns
-
-- string: The base64 encoded string
-
-#### decode()
-
-Decodes the given `input` string from a base64 encoded string
-
-##### Parameters
-
-- input: string - The string to decode
-
-##### Returns
-
-- string: The decoded string
diff --git a/packages/playground/.babelrc b/packages/playground/.babelrc
deleted file mode 100644
index f444a1e0c7..0000000000
--- a/packages/playground/.babelrc
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "presets": [
-    [
-      "@babel/preset-env",
-      {
-        "modules": false, // don't convert modules into CommonJS
-        "useBuiltIns": "usage", // use polyfill when needed
-        "corejs": 3
-      }
-    ],
-    "@babel/preset-react"
-  ],
-  "plugins": [
-    "@babel/plugin-syntax-dynamic-import",
-    "@babel/plugin-proposal-object-rest-spread",
-    "@babel/plugin-proposal-class-properties",
-    [
-      "@babel/plugin-transform-runtime",
-      {
-        "corejs": 3,
-        "useESModules": true
-      }
-    ]
-  ],
-  "env": {
-    "development": {
-      "plugins": ["@babel/plugin-transform-react-jsx"]
-    }
-  }
-}
diff --git a/packages/playground/babel.config.js b/packages/playground/babel.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..5f772a56c4
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/playground/babel.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+const defaultConfig = require('../../babel.config');
+
+module.exports = defaultConfig;
diff --git a/packages/playground/jest.config.js b/packages/playground/jest.config.js
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..b16fb29a11
--- /dev/null
+++ b/packages/playground/jest.config.js
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+module.exports = {
+  verbose: true,
+  testEnvironment: 'jsdom',
+  testMatch: ['**/test/**/*.test.[jt]s?(x)'],
+  transformIgnorePatterns: [`/node_modules/(?!nanoid)`],
+};
diff --git a/packages/playground/package.json b/packages/playground/package.json
index c6c81b8e5f..bada529e24 100644
--- a/packages/playground/package.json
+++ b/packages/playground/package.json
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "version": "5.17.0",
   "description": "rjsf playground",
   "private": true,
-  "type": "module",
+  "type": "commonjs",
   "scripts": {
     "cs-check": "prettier -l \"src/**/*.ts?(x)\"",
     "cs-format": "prettier \"src/**/*.ts?(x)\" --write",
@@ -13,7 +13,8 @@
     "publish-to-gh-pages": "npm run build && gh-pages --dist build/",
     "publish-to-npm": "npm run build && npm publish",
     "start": "vite --force",
-    "preview": "vite preview"
+    "preview": "vite preview",
+    "test": "jest"
   },
   "lint-staged": {
     "src/**/*.ts?(x)": [
@@ -92,6 +93,8 @@
     "@monaco-editor/react": "^4.6.0",
     "@mui/icons-material": "5.15.2",
     "@types/lodash": "^4.14.202",
+    "@types/jest": "^29.5.12",
+    "@types/node": "^18.19.14",
     "@types/react-frame-component": "^4.1.6",
     "@vitejs/plugin-react": "^4.2.1",
     "cross-env": "^7.0.3",
@@ -100,6 +103,8 @@
     "gh-pages": "^3.2.3",
     "html": "^1.0.0",
     "html-webpack-plugin": "^5.6.0",
+    "jest": "^29.7.0",
+    "jest-environment-jsdom": "^29.7.0",
     "loader-utils": "^3.2.1",
     "mini-css-extract-plugin": "^2.8.0",
     "prettier": "^2.8.8",
diff --git a/packages/playground/src/components/Header.tsx b/packages/playground/src/components/Header.tsx
index 47c3ae7c3f..200e474e16 100644
--- a/packages/playground/src/components/Header.tsx
+++ b/packages/playground/src/components/Header.tsx
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 import { useCallback } from 'react';
 import Form, { IChangeEvent } from '@rjsf/core';
-import { base64, RJSFSchema, UiSchema, ValidatorType } from '@rjsf/utils';
+import { RJSFSchema, UiSchema, ValidatorType } from '@rjsf/utils';
 import localValidator from '@rjsf/validator-ajv8';
+import base64 from '../utils/base64';
 
 import CopyLink from './CopyLink';
 import ThemeSelector, { ThemesType } from './ThemeSelector';
diff --git a/packages/playground/src/components/Playground.tsx b/packages/playground/src/components/Playground.tsx
index 426b796df7..fe3d43fcb2 100644
--- a/packages/playground/src/components/Playground.tsx
+++ b/packages/playground/src/components/Playground.tsx
@@ -1,6 +1,7 @@
 import { ComponentType, FormEvent, useCallback, useEffect, useRef, useState } from 'react';
 import { FormProps, IChangeEvent, withTheme } from '@rjsf/core';
-import { base64, ErrorSchema, RJSFSchema, RJSFValidationError, UiSchema, ValidatorType } from '@rjsf/utils';
+import { ErrorSchema, RJSFSchema, RJSFValidationError, UiSchema, ValidatorType } from '@rjsf/utils';
+import base64 from '../utils/base64';
 
 import { samples } from '../samples';
 import Header, { LiveSettings } from './Header';
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/base64.ts b/packages/playground/src/utils/base64.ts
similarity index 100%
rename from packages/utils/src/base64.ts
rename to packages/playground/src/utils/base64.ts
diff --git a/packages/utils/test/base64.test.ts b/packages/playground/test/utils/base64.test.ts
similarity index 97%
rename from packages/utils/test/base64.test.ts
rename to packages/playground/test/utils/base64.test.ts
index 2131c730c5..99cc9722d7 100644
--- a/packages/utils/test/base64.test.ts
+++ b/packages/playground/test/utils/base64.test.ts
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-import { base64 } from '../src';
+import base64 from '../../src/utils/base64';
 
 describe('base64', () => {
   it('should successfully encode a ascii character', () => {
diff --git a/packages/playground/tsconfig.json b/packages/playground/tsconfig.json
index 1b8e30ff70..3eee8acf04 100644
--- a/packages/playground/tsconfig.json
+++ b/packages/playground/tsconfig.json
@@ -1,7 +1,8 @@
 {
   "extends": "../../tsconfig.base.json",
+  "include": ["./"],
   "compilerOptions": {
-    "rootDir": "./src",
+    "rootDir": "./",
     "baseUrl": "./",
     "target": "ESNext",
     "useDefineForClassFields": true,
@@ -18,9 +19,9 @@
     "isolatedModules": true,
     "noEmit": true,
     "jsx": "react-jsx",
-    "types": ["vite/client"]
+    "types": ["vite/client", "jest", "node"]
   },
-  "include": ["src"],
+  "include": ["src", "test"],
   "references": [
     { "path": "../antd" },
     { "path": "../bootstrap-4" },
diff --git a/packages/utils/src/index.ts b/packages/utils/src/index.ts
index 7527d496f0..5f40d22f94 100644
--- a/packages/utils/src/index.ts
+++ b/packages/utils/src/index.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ import utcToLocal from './utcToLocal';
 import validationDataMerge from './validationDataMerge';
 import withIdRefPrefix from './withIdRefPrefix';
 import getOptionMatchingSimpleDiscriminator from './getOptionMatchingSimpleDiscriminator';
-import base64 from './base64';
 
 export * from './types';
 export * from './enums';
@@ -121,5 +120,4 @@ export {
   utcToLocal,
   validationDataMerge,
   withIdRefPrefix,
-  base64,
 };