z3b Encoding

Author: Jaakko Heusala
Date: October 12, 2024
Version: 0.1

z3b is a work-in-progress binary-to-text encoding scheme designed to map all 256 byte values to a carefully selected set of printable ASCII characters, ensuring seamless integration with JSON strings without requiring additional escaping.

By utilizing multiple unique character sets and a dedicated separator for set switching, z3b guarantees a reversible and unambiguous encoding and decoding process. Optimized for high performance and memory efficiency through the use of memory pools, z3b is ideal for applications that need to embed binary data within text-based formats while maintaining optimal throughput and minimal memory overhead.

Status

Currently, z3b is still slower than the widely-adopted Base64 encoding and generates longer encoded strings. Due to these performance drawbacks and increased payload sizes, z3b is not recommended for general use cases where efficiency and compactness are critical. It may, however, serve specialized scenarios where its unique character mapping offers specific advantages.