Skip to content

Latest commit

 

History

History
76 lines (62 loc) · 4.38 KB

README.md

File metadata and controls

76 lines (62 loc) · 4.38 KB
Raw

Base256 Encoding in Unicode (base256U)

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, or very big numbers.

What is base256U?

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 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', ... 194 umlaut characters

✔️ Advantages of base256U

  • Ultra compact, e.g. just 16 characters like 5iŗ3īÛźUKĺŰÑÞbŒŜ can encode 128-bit of data.
  • Easy to recognize due to the umlaut characters.
  • 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 385 (requires Unicode 1.0 or higher).
  • Easy to implement: see the source code in base256U.cpp

🔧 Installation

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

Examples of base256U

  • 64 bits: ŖÔńĪ07ėñ, RŧáÃĆĶ2Õ
  • 128 bits: ĺËĀ8Ę3ĩŔá0VzœĹŀî, ŽTĭŊõł3ÐÑęGųĢÛąĶ, 5iŗ3īÛźUKĺŰÑÞbŒŜ, ņĨqvLŀŠsůØŸÙGCŰƀ
  • 256 bits: ħŅŹĬšÝŋţĀĸĻňőċqâĮŹúŪßWPŞÓā8æťÁüċ, Ě2ħŤRŧáÃĆĶ2ÕŀSŜöĄPŞÜbŰ06lŔùö9ĬŒģ

Other Encoding Standards

Base Name Alphabet Example Overhead
2 Bit 0 or 1 0101101
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%

How long does it take to break a random key or password?

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

📧 Feedback

Send your email feedback to: markus.fleschutz [at] gmail.com

🤝 License & Copyright

This open source project is licensed under the CC0 license. All trademarks are the property of their respective owners.