A few months back I posted a proposal for an endian conversion library: http://lists.boost.org/Archives/boost/2012/04/191931.php I believe my library is now in a finished state, and I would like to have it considered for inclusion into Boost. A zip file containing everything can be found here: https://bitbucket.org/davidstone/endian/get/tip.zip or you can just browse the repository here: https://bitbucket.org/davidstone/endian/ The only file that users need to be concerned with is endian.hpp. endian.cpp contains performance + correctness tests, and example.cpp is a very short example program on how to use the library that opens up a file, reads in a number that was written in big-endian format, and prints it to the user's screen in host format. There is no special compiling / linking instructions (people who wish to test the program can simply compile endian.cpp). Included is a SCons script that allows easy compilation with gcc or clang with many warnings + optimizations turned on. My programs all compile cleanly at very high warning levels in these compilers because I know many users compile their own projects at such a setting, and I don't want a library file causing noise. I included the documentation in index.html, but I'm not quite sure on how to correctly format things.