java.lang.OutOfMemoryError while converting over 100 Strings into to byte arrays

Firstly, I understand questions regarding java.lang.OutOfMemoryError and Bitmaps have already been asked numerous times before. I have also checked out the Displaying Bitmaps Efficiently page.

My use case:

I am storing two different sized Bitmaps as Strings in an SQLite database. The first size of the Bitmaps is 50% of the screen width, and the second size is 100% of the screen width.

I am using a RecyclerView which displays the images in ImageViews which are either 50% or 100% of the screen width, so the Bitmaps being loaded are no bigger than they need to be, and they are appropriately sized before the images are retrieved from the Database.

I am also loading the Bitmaps using an AsyncTask.

I have over 180 different items in the RecyclerView so I have a total of over 360 Bitmaps (i.e. numberOfimages * theDifferentSizesOfEachImage) being created. I am coverting the String versions of the images into byte arrays via this code: byte [] byteArray = Base64.decode(encodedString, Base64.DEFAULT);

The Problem

The Activity was able to load over around 170 different images without encurring the java.lang.OutOfMemoryError, unless I restarted the same Activity (e.g. load the Activity, then recreate the Activity by clicking on it again in the Navigation Drawer and then repeating that process) and incurred the java.lang.OutOfMemoryError whilst converting the Strings into byte arrays.

I am converting the byte array to a Bitmap using the Glide library using the following code:

 Bitmap bitmap = Glide.with(context).load(byteArray).asBitmap()
 .dontTransform().dontAnimate().skipMemoryCache(true)
 .diskCacheStrategy(DiskCacheStrategy.NONE).into(-1, -1).get();

My Question in a nutshell

How do I avoid the java.lang.OutOfMemoryError occurring whilst am I converting the Strings into byte arrays?

Note

After creating a Bitmap using Glide I am calling recycle() on the given Bitmap and then setting it to null.

I am also already using android:largeHeap="true" in my Android Manifest

Thanks in advance

Edit

Here is how I am creating the Bitmap Strings:

 ByteArrayOutputStream baos = new  ByteArrayOutputStream();
        bitmap.compress(Bitmap.CompressFormat.WEBP,100, baos);
        byte [] b =baos.toByteArray();
     String bitmapString = Base64.encodeToString(b, Base64.DEFAULT);