Convert BigInteger to Shorter String in Java

Question

I'm looking for a way to convert a BigInteger into a very short String (shortest possible). The conversion needs to be reversible. The security of the conversion is not a big deal in this case. Would anyone have recommendations or samples of how they would go about solving this problem?

Answer 1

You can use a Base64 encoding. Note that this example uses Apache commons-codec:

BigInteger number = new BigInteger("4143222334431546643677890898767548679452");
System.out.println(number);

String encoded = new String(Base64.encodeBase64(number.toByteArray()));
System.out.println(encoded);

BigInteger decoded = new BigInteger(Base64.decodeBase64(encoded));
System.out.println(decoded);

prints:

4143222334431546643677890898767548679452
DC0DmJRYaAn2AVdEZMvmhRw=
4143222334431546643677890898767548679452