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  2. /Story
  3. /Show HN: Jabcode Studio, high-density QR-like 2D barcodes for sharing files
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  2. /Story
  3. /Show HN: Jabcode Studio, high-density QR-like 2D barcodes for sharing files
Nov 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM EST

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

jabber-feller
1 points
3 comments

Mood

calm

Sentiment

neutral

Category

other

Key topics

General

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.

Discussion Activity

Light discussion

First comment

48s

Peak period

2

Hour 2

Avg / period

1.3

Comment distribution5 data points
Loading chart...

Based on 5 loaded comments

Key moments

  1. 01Story posted

    Nov 23, 2025 at 11:15 AM EST

    15h ago

    Step 01
  2. 02First comment

    Nov 23, 2025 at 11:16 AM EST

    48s after posting

    Step 02
  3. 03Peak activity

    2 comments in Hour 2

    Hottest window of the conversation

    Step 03
  4. 04Latest activity

    Nov 23, 2025 at 7:44 PM EST

    7h ago

    Step 04

Generating AI Summary...

Analyzing up to 500 comments to identify key contributors and discussion patterns

Discussion (3 comments)
Showing 5 comments
jabber-feller
15h ago
1 reply
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
14h ago
1 reply
No idea what I did wrong, but I get:

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

jabber-feller
13h 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
10h ago
1 reply
Neat! Could you share a little about what you've used this for as of today?

Interested to hear your thoughts.

jabber-feller
7h 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
View full discussion on Hacker News
ID: 46024611Type: storyLast synced: 11/23/2025, 6:49:40 PM

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