July 20th, 2024

Show HN: QRaro, store binary data into QR Codes and retrieve it later

A Python module named "qraro" on GitHub encodes and decodes binary data into QR codes using `qrcode` and `zxing` libraries. Functions like `bin_to_qr` and `qr_to_bin` manage encoding and decoding. Instructions are available for installation and usage.

Read original articleLink Icon
Show HN: QRaro, store binary data into QR Codes and retrieve it later

The GitHub repository features the Python module "qraro," designed to encode arbitrary binary data into QR codes and decode them back. It leverages the `qrcode` library for encoding and the `zxing` library for decoding. Key functions like `bin_to_qr` and `qr_to_bin` handle the encoding and decoding processes. The module incorporates error management and usage guidelines. To utilize this module, users can refer to the repository for instructions on installing necessary dependencies and employing the functions for encoding and decoding binary data into QR codes.

Link Icon 5 comments
By @matheusmoreira - 3 months
This is great. Have you looked into QR code's structured append support? It provides the sequencing metadata required for reconstructing the data of multiple QR codes even if scanned out of order. It's limited and other schemes would still be valuable but it might still be worth supporting since it's native to the format.

Does it have camera support? I added binary decoding feature to zbar a few years ago, zxing already had it and seemed to be in far better shape overall but zbar had builtin camera support which was necessary for my use case.

By @altbdoor - 3 months
I used to have a similar idea. In general, generate a series of QR codes for any file, and convert them into a GIF.

But then I quickly realized I probably have to design a metadata structure (e.g., how many total QRs, where is start, where is end, etc). I didn't continue after that :-P

Obviously this wouldn't scale in real world application, but it was a fun idea.

By @rahimnathwani - 3 months
This reminds me of the Danmere Backer, a PC backup system that used VHS tapes.

https://linbacker.sourceforge.net/screenshots.html

By @tcsenpai - 3 months
Update: added qrtools as a second decoder; now you can use 1000 (or more) chunks per qrcode. The pika image included can now be stored in just (!!) 124 qr codes.

EDIT: And added gzip compression too

By @ranger_danger - 3 months
Why not just use base64 or something