Show HN: Jabcode Studio, high-density QR-like 2D barcodes for sharing files

by jabber-feller • 8 months ago

2 5 8 months ago

I built Jabcode Studio, a tool for creating and scanning high-density QR-like 2D colour barcodes. Unlike standard QR codes, these use multiple colours to pack much more data (upwards of 2 KB per code).

Web and iOS available. App store link here: https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/jabcode-studio/id6749924342

JAB Code has been around for a while, with some discussion here a few years ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18495250

But this is the first implementation I've seen for files (without compiling from source) and the first iOS compatibility I’ve seen.

jabber-feller3• 8 months ago

Long-time lurker, first-time poster. Thanks for checking this out! A lot of the backend is thanks to the original open source Jabcode project. Their code already supports files, but I added compression and some tooling in the app to make file transfer more seamless.

The original implementation used some deprecated image libraries, so I rebuilt all the image handling with iOS tools, like converting directly to bitmaps for speed and stability. I’m also working on extending the code to 16- and 32-colour modes, since those were dropped when ISO standardized Jabcode.

I’ve always collected physical media like NES and Atari games, but I know for many creators distributing physical products can be too expensive. So I thought printing a game on cardstock or putting Jabcode encoded data on the back of a poster could be a neat way to sell a “physical” version of a digital product.

luz666• 8 months ago

No idea what I did wrong, but I get:

{"error":"Error decoding file: "}

jabber-feller3• 8 months ago

Hmmm. What file type was it? Did you play around with the default settings? Sometimes with larger files it can have trouble decoding.

tref_ak• 8 months ago

Neat! Could you share a little about what you've used this for as of today?

Interested to hear your thoughts.

jabber-feller3• 8 months ago

I've used it for backing up my atari and nes games to physical print copies. Ive also used it to backup private keys and files for password managers

Show HN: Jabcode Studio, high-density QR-like 2D barcodes for sharing files

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