diff --git a/bramble-api/src/main/java/org/briarproject/bramble/api/data/BdfStringUtils.java b/bramble-api/src/main/java/org/briarproject/bramble/api/data/BdfStringUtils.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f02ecbd0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/bramble-api/src/main/java/org/briarproject/bramble/api/data/BdfStringUtils.java
@@ -0,0 +1,71 @@
+package org.briarproject.bramble.api.data;
+
+import org.briarproject.bramble.api.Bytes;
+import org.briarproject.bramble.api.FormatException;
+import org.briarproject.bramble.api.nullsafety.NotNullByDefault;
+
+import java.util.List;
+import java.util.Map;
+import java.util.Map.Entry;
+
+import javax.annotation.Nullable;
+
+import static org.briarproject.bramble.api.data.BdfDictionary.NULL_VALUE;
+import static org.briarproject.bramble.util.StringUtils.toHexString;
+
+@NotNullByDefault
+public class BdfStringUtils {
+
+	public static String toString(@Nullable Object o) throws FormatException {
+		return toString(o, 0);
+	}
+
+	private static String toString(@Nullable Object o, int indent)
+			throws FormatException {
+		if (o == null || o == NULL_VALUE) return "null";
+		if (o instanceof Boolean) return o.toString();
+		if (o instanceof Number) return o.toString();
+		if (o instanceof String) return "\"" + o + "\"";
+		if (o instanceof Bytes)
+			return "x" + toHexString(((Bytes) o).getBytes());
+		if (o instanceof byte[])
+			return "x" + toHexString((byte[]) o);
+		if (o instanceof List) {
+			List<?> list = (List) o;
+			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+			sb.append("[\n");
+			int i = 0, size = list.size();
+			for (Object e : list) {
+				indent(sb, indent + 1);
+				sb.append(toString(e, indent + 1));
+				if (i++ < size - 1) sb.append(',');
+				sb.append('\n');
+			}
+			indent(sb, indent);
+			sb.append(']');
+			return sb.toString();
+		}
+		if (o instanceof Map) {
+			Map<?, ?> map = (Map) o;
+			StringBuilder sb = new StringBuilder();
+			sb.append("{\n");
+			int i = 0, size = map.size();
+			for (Entry e : map.entrySet()) {
+				indent(sb, indent + 1);
+				sb.append(toString(e.getKey(), indent + 1));
+				sb.append(": ");
+				sb.append(toString(e.getValue(), indent + 1));
+				if (i++ < size - 1) sb.append(',');
+				sb.append('\n');
+			}
+			indent(sb, indent);
+			sb.append('}');
+			return sb.toString();
+		}
+		throw new FormatException();
+	}
+
+	private static void indent(StringBuilder sb, int indent) {
+		for (int i = 0; i < indent; i++) sb.append('\t');
+	}
+}