Dear List, When calling export_bits on a negative boost::multiprecision number based on cpp_int, an exception is thrown from the internal method msb ("testing individual bits in negative values is not supported"). boost::multiprecision::checked_int128_t i (-1); // use negative number std::vector<unsigned char> v; export_bits(i, std::back_inserter(v), 8); // throws How can I extract the content of a boost::multiprecision number? Boost documentation says, export_bits is designed to be used for data exchange, so in my understanding it would be a major flaw, if it cannot export supported values. I learnt that a workaround might be to directly access the backend's limbs, but this way I am accessing internals that may change. http://www.boost.org/doc/libs/master/libs/multiprecision/doc/html/boost_mult... I also asked this on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/36890928/boostmultiprecisionexport-bits-t..., but this list is probably the better place. Thanks, Tassilo