libcbor
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Description:
CBOR protocol implementation for C and others
Type: Formula  |  Tracked Since: Dec 28, 2025
Links: Homepage  |  formulae.brew.sh
Category: Developer tools
Tags: c-library cbor serialization iot embedded
Install: brew install libcbor
About:
Libcbor is a C library for parsing and generating CBOR (Concise Binary Object Representation), a binary JSON-like data format. It provides a robust, efficient, and standards-compliant implementation with a focus on safety and portability. The library is designed for constrained environments and high-performance applications, offering a clean API for data manipulation.
Key Features:
  • C99-compliant with no external dependencies
  • Streaming parser and deterministic encoding
  • Memory-safe with explicit resource management
  • Supports partial decoding and incremental processing
Use Cases:
  • IoT device communication and sensor data serialization
  • Embedded systems requiring compact data formats
  • Cryptographic protocol implementations using COSE
Alternatives:
  • tinycbor – Part of Intel's IoT SDK; similar goals but Libcbor is often preferred for its stricter standards compliance and cleaner API.
  • json-c – Handles JSON instead of CBOR; Libcbor is more efficient for binary serialization but less human-readable.
Version History
Detected Version Rev Change Commit
Sep 10, 2025 9:17am 0 VERSION_BUMP 7b0ce32d