File Encoder/Decoder

This was originally meant to be a file compressor but rarely makes files smaller, just encodes them.

How it works

The number of adjacent bits is tallied and encoded as a list of numbers. e.g. 11111 000 1111111 00 1 would be encoded as 5, 3, 7, 2, 1, using a byte for each number. If there are more than 255 of the same bit in a row, the chunk of bits is stopped, the next chunk of bits is set to 0 and the counter continues e.g. 256 of the same bits in a row would be encoded as 255, 0, 1 meaining there are 255 ones, then 0 zeroes, then 1 one.

How to use

Run either one of the executables and it will create a directory for you to put the files you want to be encoded in.

Download

From release

Download the latest release from the releases panel.

Build from source

Dowload the repo and use cargo build --release to build the project.

Pros/Cons

• The only real situation where this does compress files is in files almost entirely made of large clusters (a byte or more) of the same bits e.g. a large black image, which is almost entirely useless.

• Can be used to pseudo encrypt files, although there is nothing stopping anyone from decoding them if they figure out how they were encoded.

• Ignores directories (for now).

UPDATE:

• This process is called run-length encoding
• Could use variable sized chunks using something like Elias gamma coding whick uses 2 * floor(log_2(x)) + 1 bits per count x instead of fixed chunks (2 * floor(chunk_size / x) - 1)
• Could be nice to have first bit in the result be the same as the first bit in the source instead of a constant 1
• Is sometimes useful e.g. in a screenshot with a large area of black / white
• Helpful stackoverflow answer