Ioncube Decoder -

This brings us to the controversial keyword:

To execute this, the server must have the (Linux) or ioncube_loader.dll (Windows). This extension decrypts the bytecode in memory at runtime and executes it via the Zend Engine. Ioncube Decoder

New services like SourceGuardian (competitor) and PHP Scalar (compiler) are moving toward "native compilation" (compiling PHP to machine code via FFI or PHP-CPP). Once code is native machine code, a "decoder" becomes a full-fledged decompiler, which is exponentially harder. This brings us to the controversial keyword: To