diff --git a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/export.js b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/export.js
index d4b1360fa0..0afcdb31d6 100644
--- a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/export.js
+++ b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/export.js
@@ -71,7 +71,7 @@ describe('playground files', () => {
     const outputPath = path.join(mockOutputPath, 'index.html');
     const optsStr = JSON.stringify({
       loaderUri: './loader/index.html',
-      projectKey: btoa(mockRootPath)
+      projectKey: mockRootPath
     });
 
     expect(fs.readFileSync(outputPath, 'utf8')).toBe(
diff --git a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/server/default.js b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/server/default.js
index ed39c8ebc5..98b1d4b139 100644
--- a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/server/default.js
+++ b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/__tests__/server/default.js
@@ -102,7 +102,7 @@ it('serves index.html on / route with playgrounds opts included', () => {
         '__PLAYGROUND_OPTS__',
         JSON.stringify({
           loaderUri: './loader/index.html',
-          projectKey: btoa(mockRootPath)
+          projectKey: mockRootPath
         })
       )
     );
diff --git a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/playground-html.js b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/playground-html.js
index 4dcdf2850c..68bc4d44a2 100644
--- a/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/playground-html.js
+++ b/packages/react-cosmos-webpack/src/server/playground-html.js
@@ -14,7 +14,7 @@ export default function getPlaygroundHtml(cosmosConfig: Config) {
   );
   const opts = JSON.stringify({
     loaderUri: './loader/index.html',
-    projectKey: btoa(rootPath)
+    projectKey: rootPath
   });
 
   return html.replace('__PLAYGROUND_OPTS__', opts);