I just found a project that used XSalsa20Poly1305 for transit and encryption at rest. I am trying to find some information if that is something worth trusting data to.

It feels a little hard to put the information I found into context. I I read that a Poly1305 (MAC) with (a good number of rounds of) Salsa20 (cipher) can be an alternative to AES.

1. Is there a significant advantage of using XSalsa20Poly1305?
2. Does the "X" in XSalsa20Poly1305 just mean a 192 bit nonce?

I am not cryptographer and would love to understand some more of the details.

I just found a project that used XSalsa20Poly1305 for transit and encryption at rest. I am trying to find some information if that is something worth trusting data to.

It feels a little hard to put the information I found into context. I read that a Poly1305 (MAC) with (a good number of rounds of) Salsa20 (cipher) can be an alternative to AES.

1. Is there a significant advantage of using XSalsa20Poly1305?
2. Does the "X" in XSalsa20Poly1305 just mean a 192-bit nonce?

I am not a cryptographer and would love to understand some more of the details.