Tool to decrypt/encrypt Bacon cipher, a biliteral substitution alphabet which replace a character with a group of 5 formed with two letters (often A and B).
Bacon Cipher - dCode
Tag(s) : Substitution Cipher
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Bacon Cipher
Baconian Cipher Decoder
Bacon Encoder
Answers to Questions (FAQ)
What is the Bacon cipher (Definition)
Bacon's encryption uses a substitution alphabet based on 2 letters (called biliteral), often A and B, replacing the letters of the alphabet.
This encryption method is often accompanied by over-encryption.
How to encrypt using Bacon cipher
Baconian encryption uses the substitution table:
| A | AAAAA | B | AAAAB |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | AAABA | D | AAABB |
| E | AABAA | F | AABAB |
| G | AABBA | H | AABBB |
| I=J | ABAAA | K | ABAAB |
| L | ABABA | M | ABABB |
| N | ABBAA | O | ABBAB |
| P | ABBBA | Q | ABBBB |
| R | BAAAA | S | BAAAB |
| T | BAABA | U=V | BAABB |
| W | BABAA | X | BABAB |
| Y | BABBA | Z | BABBB |
Example: DCODE is encrypted AAABB,AAABA,ABBAB,AAABB,AABAA
In this original alphabet, the letter V does not exist, it is replaced by U, likewise the letter J does not exist, it is replaced by I.
Another bacon's alphabet is sometimes preferred, more complete, it uses a unique code for each letter:
| A | AAAAA | B | AAAAB |
|---|---|---|---|
| C | AAABA | D | AAABB |
| E | AABAA | F | AABAB |
| G | AABBA | H | AABBB |
| I | ABAAA | J | ABAAB |
| K | ABABA | L | ABABB |
| M | ABBAA | N | ABBAB |
| O | ABBBA | P | ABBBB |
| Q | BAAAA | R | BAAAB |
| S | BAABA | T | BAABB |
| U | BABAA | V | BABAB |
| W | BABBA | X | BABBB |
| Y | BBAAA | Z | BBAAB |
The 2-letter code used can be hidden in an over-encryption. A classic method is to write a random message with upper case (for A) or lower case (for B) or vice versa; in this case see the binarization of uppercase and lowercase. Other methods are possible such as writing certain characters in italics (or in bold), or even mixing 2 fonts.
How to decrypt Bacon cipher
Baconian decryption is a substitution with the biliteral alphabet of Bacon.
Example: AAABB AAABA ABBAB AAABB AABAA is equivalent to DCODE.
If over-encryption has been applied, convert the message into 2 characters (preferably A and B) first.
How to recognize a Bacon ciphertext?
The ciphered message is a biliterary code (binary with 2 letters), and maybe spaces every 5 characters.
All references to Françis Bacon (and its homonyms), to Novum organum, or to bacon slices (pork, larding, smocked, salted, english breakfast, etc.) are clues.
What are the variants of the Bacon cipher?
The letters A and B can be replaced by others characters, such as 0 and 1, to transform the message into binary format.
Sometimes the letters o and l are used: lolol loolo lolol.
The over-encryptions (of the steganographic type) are sometimes used to mask the biliteral form (upper case, lower case, variant characters or fonts, etc.).
When Bacon cipher was invented?
Francis Bacon first described it around 1605
Source code
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NB: for encrypted messages, test our automatic cipher identifier!
Questions / Comments
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