UARTSIFARTSI vs Babelia
Both projects enumerate every possible pattern within their chosen sizes and palettes. They pick very different rules for how to line those images up.
Babelia (Library of Babel)
Babelia, the image annex of libraryofbabel.info, enumerates every possible 640×416 image in 4,096 colors. You either request a random image or paste an address and the site renders that specific picture. The space is astronomical — roughly 4096640·416 images — and the interface is deliberately random-access: there is no meaningful “next” image.
UARTSIFARTSI
UARTSIFARTSI enumerates every black-and-white pattern at its completed spiral sizes in one deterministic order. An image’s address is a triple (w, h, k):
- Follow the completed sizes: 1×1 → 2×1 → 2×2 → 3×2 → 3×3 → … → 32×32.
- Count all 2w·h patterns at each size before adding a row or column. Only the 63 completed square and near-square sizes belong to this order.
- Within a pair, walk k from
0to2^n − 1. Read k as an n = w·h-bit binary number, starting with the least-significant bit at the fixed origin and following the spiral;0is white,1is black.
Side by side
| Property | UARTSIFARTSI | Babelia |
|---|---|---|
| Palette | Black & white (2 colors) | 4,096 colors |
| Sizes | 63 completed spiral sizes, 1×1 to 32×32 | Fixed 640×416 |
| Ordering | Total, deterministic (w, h, k) | Random access by address |
| Next / previous image | Yes — except at the catalogue endpoints | Not meaningful |
| Naming / community | Anyone can name any image | No naming layer |
| URL shape | /s/w/h/k (spiral); /img/w/h/k (legacy) | Opaque address string |
Which one should I use?
Use Babelia if you want a Borges-flavored plunge into a huge, high-resolution color space with no path through it. Use UARTSIFARTSI if you want a shared, walkable catalogue of black-and-white patterns at the spiral sizes — with stable URLs, a next image, and names contributed by other people.
Ready to explore? Start at the front page or jump to a specific image like /img/3/3/170.