This repo contains a C++ sample implementation to represent binary data in base256 encoding by using Unicode characters. Typical use cases are representing safe passwords, digital keys, file checksums, identifiers, hashes, extremely big numbers, or data in character-limited messengers.
Each byte is represented by exactly one Unicode character and vice versa each Unicode character represents exactly one byte. Therefore, the byte vs Unicode mapping is dead simple:
| Byte | Unicode Character | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | '0'-'9' | 10 digits |
| 10-35 | 'A'-'Z' | 26 uppercase letters |
| 36-61 | 'a'-'z' | 26 lowercase letters |
| 62-255 | 'À', 'Á', 'Â', 'Ã', 'Ä', ... | 194 accent letters |
- Ultra compact, e.g. just 16 characters like
5iŗ3īÛźUKĺŰÑÞbŒŜcan encode 128-bit of data. - Easy to recognize due to the accent letters.
- Safe to use: can't be remembered (no need to hide it), so people are forced to copy & paste it.
- Supports double-clicking for comfortable copy & paste (all Unicode characters are non-terminal ones).
- Supports all Unicode versions due to highest code point 387 (requires Unicode 1.0 or higher).
- Easy to implement, see base256U.cpp for a C++ implementation.
Requires cmake and a C++ compiler. Then execute in a terminal window:
> git clone https://github.com/fleschutz/base256U # or download und unzip the ZIP file (click the green button)
> cd base256U
> cmake .
> make
> ./base256U
- 64-bit key:
ŖÔńĪ07ėñ,RŧáÃĆĶ2Õ - 128-bit key:
ĺËĀ8Ę3ĩŔá0VzœĹŀî,ŽTĭŊõł3ÐÑęGųĢÛąĶ,5iŗ3īÛźUKĺŰÑÞbŒŜ,ņĨqvLŀŠsůØŸÙGCŰƀ - 256-bit key:
ħŅŹĬšÝŋţĀĸĻňőċqâĮŹúŪßWPŞÓā8æťÁüċ,Ě2ħŤRŧáÃĆĶ2ÕŀSŜöĄPŞÜbŰ06lŔùö9ĬŒģ - zeichensalat: a tool to make/run compressed executables copy/pastes using less than 500 unicode characters. It is intended to be used on the fediverse (or in chats).
| Base | Name | Alphabet | Example | Overhead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Binary | 0 or 1 | 0101101 | +800% |
| 8 | Octal | 0-7 | 7734124 | |
| 10 | Decimal | 0-9 | 3849834 | |
| 16 | Hexadecimal | 0-9,a-f (case insensitive) | 7a9ff34 | +100% |
| 32 | Base32 | A-Z,2-7 | S7FFQZB | +60% |
| 36 | Base36 | 0-9,A-Z | 7RT99XQ | |
| 45 | Base45 | 0-9,A-Z,space,$,%,*,+,-,.,/,: | 8X%/9:A | |
| 64 | Base64 | A-Z,a-z,0-9,+,- | zA8r+8q | +33%/37% |
| 85 | Base85 | !,",#,...,z | 9jqo | +25% |
| 256 | Base256U | 0-9,A-Z,a-z,accent letters | ĘśŃäŞŰÀ | +~75% |
Trying every possible key or password (called a 'brute force attack') at one billion attempts per second:
| Key Size | Key Example | Maximum Time Needed |
|---|---|---|
| 40-bit | ŞŰÀ8Œ |
about 9 minutes |
| 56-bit | ŖÔńĪ7ėñ |
about a year |
| 128-bit | ĤŗwĹĦñŧīijēaqöĜĖŅ |
about 5,783,128,169,837,158,197,871 years |
| 256-bit | ÿőMêŽĖiĘśŃäŞŰÀ8ŒŽĎäPfSŖÔńiĪ7ėëŷò |
never, for all practical purposes |
- Contributions, suggestions, and improvements are welcome!
- Open an Issue if you encounter bugs or have feature ideas.
- Create a Pull Request if you'd like to improve something.
- Or just send your feedback to: markus.fleschutz [at] gmail.com
This open source project is licensed under the CC0 license. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.