This paper describes Balsa, a compact molecular serialization format designed to be forward compatible with SMILES. Constitutionally, Balsa can encode molecules conforming to the electron-pair bonding model. In the event of undesired symmetry artifacts due to delocalization, Balsa offers a mitigation based in graph theory. Conformational isomerism of alkenes is supported by partial parity bonds. The configurations of tetracoordinate, stereogenic atoms are encoded through the use of a parity enumeration and conventions around its use.