The Base58 Encoding Scheme
draft-msporny-base58-01

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Internet Engineering Task Force                              S. Nakamoto
Internet-Draft                                                   Bitcoin
Intended status: Informational                                 M. Sporny
Expires: May 30, 2020                                     Digital Bazaar
                                                       November 27, 2019

                       The Base58 Encoding Scheme
                        draft-msporny-base58-01

Abstract

   This document specifies the base 58 encoding scheme, including an
   introduction to the benefits of the approach, the encoding and
   decoding algorithm, alternative alphabets, and security
   considerations.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
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   This Internet-Draft will expire on May 30, 2020.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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   (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
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Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
     1.1.  Requirements Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   2.  The Base58 Alphabet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  The Base58 Encoding Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   4.  The Base58 Decoding Algorithm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Test Vectors  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   When trasmitting data, it can be useful to encode the data in a way
   that survives lower fidelity transmission mechanisms.  For example,
   encoding data using a human alphabet in a way that a person can
   visually confirm the encoded data can be more beneficial than
   encoding it in binary form.  The Base58 encoding scheme is similar to
   the Base64 encoding scheme in that it can translate any binary data
   to a text string.  It is different from Base64 in that the conversion
   alphabet has been carefully picked to work well in environments where
   a person, such as a developer or support technician, might need to
   visually confirm the information with low error rates.

   Base58 is designed with a number of usability characteristics in mind
   that Base64 does not consider.  First, similar looking letters are
   omitted such as 0 (zero), O (capital o), I (capital i) and l (lower
   case L).  Doing so eliminates the possibility of a human being
   mistaking similar characters for the wrong character.  Second, the
   non-alphanumeric characters + (plus), = (equals), and / (slash) are
   omitted to make it possible to use Base58 values in all modern file
   systems and URL schemes without the need for further system-specific
   encoding schemes.  Third, by using only alphanumeric characters, easy
   double-click or double tap selection is possible in modern computer
   interfaces.  Fourth, social messaging systems do not line break on
   alphanumeric strings making it easier to e-mail or message Base58
   values when debugging systems.  Fifth, unlike Base64, there is no
   byte padding making many Base58 values smaller (on average) or the
   same size as Base64 values for values up to 64 bytes, and less than
   2% larger for larger values.  Finally, Base64 has eleven encoding
   variations that lead to confusion among developers on which variety
   of Base64 to use.  This specification asserts that there is just one
   simple encoding mechanism for Base58, making implementations and
   developer interactions simpler.

   While Base58 does have a number of beneficial usability features, it
   is not always a good choice for an encoding format.  For example,

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