Base58 vs. Base85 Encoding: A Tale of Two Encodings
2025-07-27
Base58 and Base85 encodings represent binary data in human-readable formats. Base58, using a smaller character set, is more conservative; Base85, with a larger set, is more efficient. A key difference lies in how 'base' is defined. Base58 is crucial to Bitcoin, part of the Base58Check protocol for addresses and keys. Base85 offers a more compact alternative to Base64, found in PDFs and Git patch encoding. It works by breaking bits into 32-bit words, encoding each in base 85. Variations in Base85 alphabets lead to different outputs. Base85 boasts superior efficiency, using fewer symbols and offering better computational performance.
Development
Encoding