diff --git a/kotlin/ArchiveDecoder.kt b/kotlin/ArchiveDecoder.kt
index 11815a3..d9fe0a0 100644
--- a/kotlin/ArchiveDecoder.kt
+++ b/kotlin/ArchiveDecoder.kt
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@ val KEY = byteArrayOf(
     0xFA.toByte(), 0x84.toByte(), 0x06, 0xCD.toByte(), 0x3E, 0x79, 0xB5.toByte(), 0x50,
 )
 
+/**
+ * Fixed 8-byte XOR obfuscation key (FORMAT.md Section 9.1).
+ * Applied cyclically across the 40-byte header for obfuscation/de-obfuscation.
+ */
+val XOR_KEY = byteArrayOf(
+    0xA5.toByte(), 0x3C, 0x96.toByte(), 0x0F,
+    0xE1.toByte(), 0x7B, 0x4D, 0xC8.toByte()
+)
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Data classes
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -243,6 +252,23 @@ fun verifySha256(data: ByteArray, expectedSha256: ByteArray): Boolean {
     return computed.contentEquals(expectedSha256)
 }
 
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+// XOR header de-obfuscation (FORMAT.md Section 9.1)
+// ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
+
+/**
+ * XOR-obfuscate or de-obfuscate a header buffer in-place.
+ *
+ * XOR is its own inverse, so the same function encodes and decodes.
+ * Applies the 8-byte XOR_KEY cyclically across the first 40 bytes.
+ * Uses `and 0xFF` on BOTH operands to avoid Kotlin signed byte issues.
+ */
+fun xorHeader(buf: ByteArray) {
+    for (i in 0 until minOf(buf.size, 40)) {
+        buf[i] = ((buf[i].toInt() and 0xFF) xor (XOR_KEY[i % 8].toInt() and 0xFF)).toByte()
+    }
+}
+
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
 // Main decode orchestration (FORMAT.md Section 10)
 // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
@@ -261,15 +287,32 @@ fun decode(archivePath: String, outputDir: String) {
     // Read 40-byte header
     val headerBytes = ByteArray(HEADER_SIZE)
     raf.readFully(headerBytes)
+
+    // XOR bootstrapping (FORMAT.md Section 10, step 2):
+    // Check if first 4 bytes match MAGIC; if not, attempt XOR de-obfuscation
+    if (!(headerBytes[0] == MAGIC[0] && headerBytes[1] == MAGIC[1] &&
+          headerBytes[2] == MAGIC[2] && headerBytes[3] == MAGIC[3])) {
+        xorHeader(headerBytes)
+    }
+
     val header = parseHeader(headerBytes)
 
-    // Seek to TOC and read all TOC bytes
-    raf.seek(header.tocOffset)
-    val tocBytes = ByteArray(header.tocSize.toInt())
-    raf.readFully(tocBytes)
-
-    // Parse all TOC entries
-    val entries = parseToc(tocBytes, header.fileCount)
+    // Read TOC bytes -- decrypt if TOC encryption flag is set (bit 1)
+    val entries: List<TocEntry>
+    if (header.flags and 0x02 != 0) {
+        // TOC is encrypted: read encrypted bytes, decrypt, then parse
+        raf.seek(header.tocOffset)
+        val encryptedToc = ByteArray(header.tocSize.toInt())
+        raf.readFully(encryptedToc)
+        val decryptedToc = decryptAesCbc(encryptedToc, header.tocIv, KEY)
+        entries = parseToc(decryptedToc, header.fileCount)
+    } else {
+        // TOC is plaintext (backward compatibility)
+        raf.seek(header.tocOffset)
+        val tocBytes = ByteArray(header.tocSize.toInt())
+        raf.readFully(tocBytes)
+        entries = parseToc(tocBytes, header.fileCount)
+    }
 
     var successCount = 0