diff --git a/.changes/next-release/feature-22e1dd049a18d2fdf13cf205af81f5374e34a46b.json b/.changes/next-release/feature-22e1dd049a18d2fdf13cf205af81f5374e34a46b.json
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..199cb2f5964
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changes/next-release/feature-22e1dd049a18d2fdf13cf205af81f5374e34a46b.json
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+{
+  "type": "feature",
+  "description": "Added a `NodeValidationVisitor` feature that enforces base64 encoding of blob values.",
+  "pull_requests": [
+    "[#2838](https://github.com/smithy-lang/smithy/pull/2838)"
+  ]
+}
diff --git a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitor.java b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitor.java
index a7a2264b201..a602d9972a4 100644
--- a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitor.java
+++ b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitor.java
@@ -4,7 +4,9 @@
  */
 package software.amazon.smithy.model.validation;
 
+import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.Base64;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
 import java.util.EnumSet;
@@ -106,7 +108,14 @@ public enum Feature {
          *
          * <p>By default, null values are not allowed for optional types.
          */
-        ALLOW_OPTIONAL_NULLS;
+        ALLOW_OPTIONAL_NULLS,
+
+        /**
+         * Requires that blob values are validly encoded base64 strings.
+         *
+         * <p>By default, blob values which are not valid base64 encoded strings will be allowed.
+         */
+        REQUIRE_BASE_64_BLOB_VALUES;
 
         public static Feature fromNode(Node node) {
             return Feature.valueOf(node.expectStringNode().getValue());
@@ -178,7 +187,19 @@ private NodeValidationVisitor traverse(String segment, Node node) {
     @Override
     public List<ValidationEvent> blobShape(BlobShape shape) {
         return value.asStringNode()
-                .map(stringNode -> applyPlugins(shape))
+                .map(stringNode -> {
+                    if (validationContext.hasFeature(Feature.REQUIRE_BASE_64_BLOB_VALUES)) {
+                        byte[] encodedValue = stringNode.getValue().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+
+                        try {
+                            Base64.getDecoder().decode(encodedValue);
+                        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
+                            return ListUtils.of(event("Blob value must be a valid base64 string"));
+                        }
+                    }
+
+                    return applyPlugins(shape);
+                })
                 .orElseGet(() -> invalidShape(shape, NodeType.STRING));
     }
 
diff --git a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/node/BlobLengthPlugin.java b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/node/BlobLengthPlugin.java
index 69fff60e8b5..425d72ffa3f 100644
--- a/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/node/BlobLengthPlugin.java
+++ b/smithy-model/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/node/BlobLengthPlugin.java
@@ -5,6 +5,7 @@
 package software.amazon.smithy.model.validation.node;
 
 import java.nio.charset.StandardCharsets;
+import java.util.Base64;
 import software.amazon.smithy.model.node.StringNode;
 import software.amazon.smithy.model.shapes.BlobShape;
 import software.amazon.smithy.model.shapes.Shape;
@@ -25,8 +26,13 @@ final class BlobLengthPlugin extends MemberAndShapeTraitPlugin<BlobShape, String
 
     @Override
     protected void check(Shape shape, LengthTrait trait, StringNode node, Context context, Emitter emitter) {
-        String value = node.getValue();
-        int size = value.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8).length;
+        byte[] value = node.getValue().getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8);
+
+        if (context.hasFeature(NodeValidationVisitor.Feature.REQUIRE_BASE_64_BLOB_VALUES)) {
+            value = Base64.getDecoder().decode(value);
+        }
+
+        int size = value.length;
 
         trait.getMin().ifPresent(min -> {
             if (size < min) {
@@ -39,7 +45,7 @@ protected void check(Shape shape, LengthTrait trait, StringNode node, Context co
         });
 
         trait.getMax().ifPresent(max -> {
-            if (value.getBytes(StandardCharsets.UTF_8).length > max) {
+            if (size > max) {
                 emitter.accept(node,
                         getSeverity(context),
                         "Value provided for `" + shape.getId()
diff --git a/smithy-model/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitorTest.java b/smithy-model/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitorTest.java
index 1d7ee51bacc..f2fc4fb3447 100644
--- a/smithy-model/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitorTest.java
+++ b/smithy-model/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/model/validation/NodeValidationVisitorTest.java
@@ -691,4 +691,56 @@ public void nullSparseMapValue() {
 
         assertThat(events, empty());
     }
+
+    @ParameterizedTest
+    @MethodSource("requiredBase64BlobValueData")
+    public void withRequiredBase64BlobValuesTest(String target, String value, String[] errors) {
+        ShapeId targetId = ShapeId.from(target);
+        Node nodeValue = Node.parse(value);
+        NodeValidationVisitor visitor = NodeValidationVisitor.builder()
+                .value(nodeValue)
+                .model(MODEL)
+                .addFeature(NodeValidationVisitor.Feature.REQUIRE_BASE_64_BLOB_VALUES)
+                .build();
+        List<ValidationEvent> events = MODEL.expectShape(targetId).accept(visitor);
+
+        if (errors != null) {
+            List<String> messages = events.stream().map(ValidationEvent::getMessage).collect(Collectors.toList());
+            assertThat(messages, containsInAnyOrder(errors));
+        } else if (!events.isEmpty()) {
+            Assertions.fail("Did not expect any problems with the value, but found: "
+                    + events.stream().map(Object::toString).collect(Collectors.joining("\n")));
+        }
+    }
+
+    public static Collection<Object[]> requiredBase64BlobValueData() {
+        return Arrays.asList(new Object[][] {
+
+                // Blobs
+                {"ns.foo#Blob1", "\"\"", null},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob1",
+                        "\"{}\"",
+                        new String[] {
+                                "Blob value must be a valid base64 string"
+                        }},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob1", "\"Zm9v\"", null},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob1",
+                        "true",
+                        new String[] {
+                                "Expected string value for blob shape, `ns.foo#Blob1`; found boolean value, `true`"
+                        }},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob2", "\"Zg==\"", null},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob2",
+                        "\"Zm9vbw==\"",
+                        new String[] {
+                                "Value provided for `ns.foo#Blob2` must have no more than 3 bytes, but the provided value has 4 bytes"}},
+                {"ns.foo#Blob2",
+                        "\"\"",
+                        new String[] {
+                                "Value provided for `ns.foo#Blob2` must have at least 1 bytes, but the provided value only has 0 bytes"}},
+
+                // base64 encoded value without padding
+                {"ns.foo#Blob1", "\"Zg\"", null},
+        });
+    }
 }