mbase

Universal base encoder/decoder/converter. Single binary, 54 codecs, zero plugins.

Features

• 54 codecs - base2/8/16/32/58/62/64/85/91/92, bech32, morse, IPv6, braille, punycode, and more
• Zero dependencies - single binary, no plugins or external tools
• JSON output - structured data for scripting and automation
• Multibase support - self-describing encoded data with prefixes
• Smart detection - automatically identify unknown encodings
• Error explanation - detailed diagnostics for decode failures
• Format normalization - wrap, group, and clean encoded data
• Batch operations - encode/decode with all codecs at once

Install

cargo install --path .

Quick Start

# Encode to base64
echo "Hello" | mbase enc --codec base64
# SGVsbG8K

# Decode from base64
echo "SGVsbG8K" | mbase dec --codec base64
# Hello

# Convert between encodings
echo "SGVsbG8K" | mbase conv --from base64 --to base58btc
# 2NEpo7TZRhna7vSvL

# Try text encodings
echo "Hello" | mbase enc --codec rot13  # Uryyb
echo "SOS" | mbase enc --codec morse    # ... --- ...
echo "test@example.com" | mbase enc --codec urlencoding  # test%40example.com

# IPv6 compact representation (RFC1924)
printf "::1" | mbase enc --codec ipv6  # 00000000000000000001
printf "2001:db8::1" | mbase enc --codec ipv6  # 9R}vSQ9RqiCv7SR1r(Uz

# List available codecs
mbase list

Examples

$ printf "mbase rokz" | mbase enc --all
CODEC              ENCODED
----------------------------------------------------------------------
atbash             nyzhv ilpa
base2              01101101011000100110000101110011011001010010000...
base8              155142141163145040162157153172
base16lower        6d6261736520726f6b7a
base16upper        6D6261736520726F6B7A
base32lower        nvrgc43febzg6232
base32upper        NVRGC43FEBZG6232
base32padlower     nvrgc43febzg6232
base32padupper     NVRGC43FEBZG6232
base32hexlower     dlh62sr541p6uqrq
base32hexupper     DLH62SR541P6UQRQ
base32hexpadlower  dlh62sr541p6uqrq
base32hexpadupper  DLH62SR541P6UQRQ
zbase32            pitgnh5frb3g6454
crockford32        DNH62WV541S6YTVT
base32wordsafe     pitgnh5frb3g6454
base36lower        2c46lmitvvqlkvwa
base36upper        2C46LMITVVQLKVWA
base37             1KBS9ENGBK7NDL18
base45             C$DHECDZC0LEJQD
base58btc          79S9xSNYRQdHDs
base58flickr       79r9XrnxqpChdS
base58check        hDNqPZfwaMymMTXPt2m
base58ripple       f9S9xS4YRQdHD1
base62             2a6j5tU7aIGuBG
base64             bWJhc2Ugcm9reg
base64pad          bWJhc2Ugcm9reg==
base64url          bWJhc2Ugcm9reg
base64urlpad       bWJhc2Ugcm9reg==
base65536          ꉢ陳騠ꝯꁺ
ascii85            D.6ppAKZ#3CO,
z85                zdl{{wGV2iyKb
base85chunked      ZDL__Wgv2IYkB
base85rfc1924      (encoding failed)
base91             ;GH<f,|L3$P]B
base92             #G9OG=jw{)9K0
baudot             11100110010001100101000010010001010110000111110001
bech32             data1d43xzum9ypex76m6qerv4p
bech32m            data1d43xzum9ypex76m649nqsr
braille            ⠍⠃⠁⠎⠑⠀⠗⠕⠅⠵
bubblebabble       xirekd-omelf-enodb-isokz-opulp-yx
ipv6               (encoding failed)
morse              -- -... .- ... . / .-. --- -.- --..
proquint           kujof-kajug-kihob-lanoz-kotup
punycode           mbase rokz
quoted-printable   mbase=20rokz
rot13              zonfr ebxm
rot47              >32D6 C@<K
a1z26              13-2-1-19-5-0-18-15-11-26
rot18              zonfr ebxm
unicode            U+006D U+0062 U+0061 U+0073 U+0065 U+0020 U+007...
tapcode            32 12 11 43 15    42 34 13 55
uuencode           *;6)A<V4@<F]K>@``
urlencoding        mbase%20rokz

$ printf "79r9XrnxqpChdS" | mbase dec --all
CODEC              DECODED (as text, or hex if binary)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
atbash             "79i9CimcjkXswH"
base37             [5fe6f3de494aa3529d] (9 bytes)
base58btc          [6d82e124341a7c95fec9] (10 bytes)
base58flickr       "mbase rokz"
base58ripple       [01e309d4e7a776ec68ba6d] (11 bytes)
base62             [012f3cfda3c72fd68fdcca] (11 bytes)
z85                [161ef46754dd320a76dc81] (11 bytes)
base85rfc1924      [1621d217a6b9369c26ed80] (11 bytes)
base91             [ea55bb823dc9d8eb7ad7a0] (11 bytes)
base92             [0252d44e7cee1e1f72e79f9d] (12 bytes)
punycode           "79r9xrnxqpchds"
quoted-printable   "79r9XrnxqpChdS"
rot13              "79e9KeakdcPuqF"
rot47              "fhCh)C?IBAr95$"
rot18              "24e4KeakdcPuqF"
urlencoding        "79r9XrnxqpChdS"

Commands

enc - Encode bytes to text

mbase enc --codec base64 --in data.bin --out encoded.txt
mbase enc --codec base32 --multibase  # Add multibase prefix
mbase enc --all                       # Show all encodings
mbase enc --codec base64 --json       # JSON output

dec - Decode text to bytes

mbase dec --codec base64 --in encoded.txt --out data.bin
mbase dec --multibase                 # Auto-detect from prefix
mbase dec --all                       # Try all codecs
mbase dec --mode lenient              # Ignore whitespace
mbase dec --codec base64 --json       # JSON output with hex

conv - Convert between encodings

mbase conv --from base64 --to base32
mbase conv --from hex --to base58btc --in data.txt
mbase conv --from base64 --to base32 --json  # JSON output

verify - Check if input is valid

mbase verify --codec base64 --in data.txt
mbase verify --codec hex --mode strict
mbase verify --codec base64 --json   # JSON output

fmt - Normalize/format encoded data

mbase fmt --codec base64 --wrap 64    # Wrap lines
mbase fmt --codec hex --group 2 --sep :  # AA:BB:CC:DD

detect - Identify encoding

mbase detect --in unknown.txt
mbase detect --top 3                  # Show top 3 candidates
mbase detect --json                   # JSON output

explain - Debug decode failures

mbase explain --codec base64 --in bad.txt
mbase explain --codec base64 --json  # JSON output

info - Show codec details

mbase info base64
mbase info base58btc --json

list - List all codecs

mbase list
mbase list --json

Supported Codecs

Binary-to-Text Encodings

Base2: base2 (binary)
Base8: base8 (octal)
Base16: base16lower (hex), base16upper (HEX)
Base32: base32lower, base32upper, base32padlower, base32padupper, base32hexlower, base32hexupper, base32hexpadlower, base32hexpadupper
Base32 Variants: zbase32, crockford32 (human-friendly), base32wordsafe (z-base-32, avoids similar chars)
Base36: base36lower, base36upper
Base37: base37 (base36 + space character)
Base45: base45 (RFC 9285, QR-code friendly)
Base58: base58btc (Bitcoin), base58flickr, base58check (Bitcoin-style checksum), base58ripple (XRP)
Base62: base62 (0-9A-Za-z)
Base64: base64, base64pad, base64url, base64urlpad
Base65536: base65536 (Unicode, 2 bytes per char)
Base85: ascii85 (Adobe), z85 (ZeroMQ), base85chunked (4-byte chunks), base85rfc1924 (RFC1924 big-integer)
Base91: base91 (highest density printable ASCII)
Base92: base92 (92 printable ASCII characters)

Text Encodings & Ciphers

ROT Ciphers: atbash (A↔Z), rot13 (letters +13), rot47 (ASCII !-~), rot18 (ROT13 + ROT5)
Morse & Telegraph: morse (international), baudot (ITA2 5-bit telegraph)
Position Encodings: a1z26 (A=1...Z=26), tapcode (Polybius square knock code)
Symbolic: braille (Unicode U+2800-U+28FF), unicode (U+XXXX code points)
Pronounceable: proquint (2 bytes per quint), bubblebabble (OpenSSH fingerprint style)

Internet & Standards

URL/Email: urlencoding (RFC 3986 percent-encoding), quoted-printable (RFC 2045 MIME)
Internationalization: punycode (RFC3492 IDN encoding)
Bitcoin/Crypto: base58btc, base58check, bech32 (BIP-173), bech32m (BIP-350)
Network: ipv6 (RFC1924 compact IPv6 representation, 128-bit as base85)
Legacy: uuencode (Unix-to-Unix)

More Examples

IPv6 Address Encoding (RFC1924)

Compact 20-character base85 representation of IPv6 addresses:

# Loopback address
printf "::1" | mbase enc --codec ipv6
# 00000000000000000001

# Standard IPv6 address
printf "2001:db8::1" | mbase enc --codec ipv6
# 9R}vSQ9RqiCv7SR1r(Uz

# RFC1924 example from spec
printf "1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A" | mbase enc --codec ipv6
# 4)+k&C#VzJ4br>0wv%Yp

# Decode back to canonical IPv6
printf "4)+k&C#VzJ4br>0wv%Yp" | mbase dec --codec ipv6
# 1080::8:800:200c:417a

Letter Position & Tap Code

# A1Z26: Letter position encoding
echo "HELLO" | mbase enc --codec a1z26
# 8-5-12-12-15

# Tap code (Polybius square knock code)
echo "SOS" | mbase enc --codec tapcode
# 43 34 43

Symbolic Encodings

# Braille Unicode patterns
printf "HELLO" | mbase enc --codec braille
# ⠓⠑⠇⠇⠕

# Unicode code points
printf "Hi🚀" | mbase enc --codec unicode
# U+0048 U+0069 U+1F680

Pronounceable Encodings

# Bubble Babble (OpenSSH fingerprint style)
printf "test" | mbase enc --codec bubblebabble
# xitakh-esalg-ox

# Proquint (pronounceable identifiers)
printf "test" | mbase enc --codec proquint
# lidoj-latuh

Telegraph & Historical

# Baudot code (ITA2 5-bit telegraph)
echo "HELLO" | mbase enc --codec baudot
# 101000000110010100101100000010

# Morse code
echo "HELLO" | mbase enc --codec morse
# .... . .-.. .-.. ---

Internationalization

# Punycode (IDN encoding for domain names)
printf "münchen" | mbase enc --codec punycode
# mnchen-3ya

# URL encoding
echo "hello world!" | mbase enc --codec urlencoding
# hello%20world%21

Use Cases

Data interchange: Convert between encoding schemes without decode/re-encode errors.

Debugging: Detect unknown encodings, explain validation failures, verify correctness.

Formatting: Normalize encoded data with wrapping, grouping, or whitespace removal.

Multibase: Work with self-describing encoded data (prefixed with codec identifier).

Scripting: JSON output for programmatic processing of encode/decode operations.

JSON Output

Many commands support --json for structured output:

# Encode with JSON
$ echo "test" | mbase enc --codec base64 --json
{
  "codec": "base64",
  "input_length": 5,
  "output": "dGVzdAo=",
  "output_length": 8,
  "multibase_prefix": null
}

# Decode with JSON (includes hex representation)
$ echo "dGVzdA" | mbase dec --codec base64 --json
{
  "codec": "base64",
  "input": "dGVzdA",
  "output_length": 4,
  "output_hex": "74657374",
  "output_text": "test",
  "multibase_prefix": null
}

# Convert with JSON
$ echo "dGVzdA" | mbase conv --from base64 --to base32 --json
{
  "from_codec": "base64",
  "to_codec": "base32",
  "input": "dGVzdA",
  "output": "orsxg5a"
}

# Detect with JSON
$ echo "SGVsbG8" | mbase detect --json
{
  "schema_version": 1,
  "candidates": [
    {
      "codec": "base64",
      "confidence": 0.75,
      "reasons": ["all characters valid", "decodes successfully"],
      "warnings": []
    }
  ],
  "input_preview": "SGVsbG8"
}

# List all codecs as JSON
$ mbase list --json
[
  {
    "name": "base64",
    "aliases": ["b64"],
    "multibase_code": "m",
    "description": "Standard base64 encoding"
  }
]

Commands supporting --json: enc, dec, conv, list, info, verify, detect, explain

Files & I/O

• --in defaults to stdin (-)
• --out defaults to stdout (-)
• Use file paths for non-streaming I/O: --in data.bin --out result.txt

Modes

• Strict: Reject invalid input immediately
• Lenient: Ignore whitespace and formatting

Default varies by command (strict for decode/verify, lenient for fmt).

License

MIT