Format transparency
The public specification gives implementers a stable place to inspect decisions and compare behavior against the Rust reference implementation.
tzap archive format specification
The current public specification is v0.43. It is the draft implementation target and supersedes the earlier tzap format drafts.
Implementation notes
- The reference implementation is written in Rust.
- The format targets authenticated metadata and payloads.
- Split-volume and recovery behavior are part of the format story, not an afterthought.
- Conformance matrices can be linked here once they are ready for public readers.
Public archive format for implementers and reviewers
The tzap specification documents the archive layout for independent review and compatible implementations. It describes the format contract behind encrypted metadata, authenticated payloads, indexes, trailers, split volumes, and recovery behavior.
Integrity model
Authenticated headers, manifests, indexes, trailers, and payloads are part of the format story rather than a separate wrapper.
Recovery model
Split-volume and Reed-Solomon recovery behavior are documented so damaged media cases can be reasoned about and tested.