why isn't this base64 string decoding?

My code:

<?php  $a = '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';  echo strlen(base64_decode($a)) . "\n\n"; echo strlen(sodium_base642bin($a, SODIUM_BASE64_VARIANT_ORIGINAL_NO_PADDING)); 

base64_decode decodes that string just fine but sodium_base642bin fails, regardless of what the $id parameter is (SODIUM_BASE64_VARIANT_ORIGINAL, SODIUM_BASE64_VARIANT_ORIGINAL_NO_PADDING, SODIUM_BASE64_VARIANT_URLSAFE and SODIUM_BASE64_VARIANT_URLSAFE_NO_PADDING). More specifically, sodium_base642bin throws the following (useless) exception:

Fatal error: Uncaught SodiumException: sodium_base642bin(): Argument #1 ($string) must be a valid base64 string 

Any ideas?

Answers 1: of why isn't this base64 string decoding?