Comparison of data-serialization formats

<h2 id="overview">Overview</h2>

<table><tbody><tr><th>Name</th><th>Creator-maintainer</th><th>Based on</th><th>Standardized?</th><th><a href="/facts/Specification/xEMUsktp">Specification</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Binary_format/ysttM8hh">Binary</a>?</th><th><a href="/facts/Human-readable/GDE1fpHT">Human-readable</a>?</th><th>Supports <a href="/facts/Reference_(computer_science)/1vm2Bph1">references</a>?e</th><th>Schema-<a href="/facts/Interface_description_language/FpByLf4X">IDL</a>?</th><th>Standard <a href="/facts/API/GMlN4vUr">APIs</a></th><th>Supports <a href="/facts/Zero-copy/cc13RBxU">zero-copy</a> operations</th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Arrow/BnuVf8We">Apache Arrow</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Software_Foundation/Xl9Tt9lE">Apache Software Foundation</a></td><td>—</td><td>De facto</td><td><a href="https://arrow.apache.org/docs/format/Columnar.html">Arrow Columnar Format</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Built-in</td><td>C, C++, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Julia, Matlab, Python, R, Ruby, Rust, Swift</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Avro/eTn7FdRH">Apache Avro</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Software_Foundation/Xl9Tt9lE">Apache Software Foundation</a></td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://avro.apache.org/docs/current/spec.html">Apache Avro™ Specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Partialg</td><td>—</td><td>Built-in</td><td>C, C#, C++, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Parquet/BuT8WYeR">Apache Parquet</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Software_Foundation/Xl9Tt9lE">Apache Software Foundation</a></td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://parquet.apache.org">Apache Parquet</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>—</td><td>Java, Python, C++</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Thrift/DWlecvw3">Apache Thrift</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Facebook/0IhXFR6u">Facebook</a> (creator)<a href="/facts/Apache_Software_Foundation/Xl9Tt9lE">Apache</a> (maintainer)</td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://thrift.apache.org/static/files/thrift-20070401.pdf">Original whitepaper</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Partialc</td><td>No</td><td>Built-in</td><td>C++, Java, Python, PHP, Ruby, Erlang, Perl, Haskell, C#, Cocoa, JavaScript, Node.js, Smalltalk, OCaml, Delphi and other languages<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:1" href="#fn:1">1</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/ASN.1/ryUN7doc">ASN.1</a></td><td><a href="/facts/International_Organization_for_Standardization/IacYR7Yg">ISO</a>, <a href="/facts/International_Electrotechnical_Commission/hSK0kjwI">IEC</a>, <a href="/facts/ITU-T/9nJwkPYx">ITU-T</a></td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td>ISO/IEC 8824 / ITU-T X.680 (syntax) and ISO/IEC 8825 / ITU-T X.690 (encoding rules) series. X.680, X.681, and X.683 define syntax and semantics.</td><td><a href="/facts/Basic_Encoding_Rules/sNL76pTs">BER</a>, <a href="/facts/Distinguished_Encoding_Rules/sNL76pTs">DER</a>, <a href="/facts/Packed_Encoding_Rules/ryUN7doc">PER</a>, <a href="/facts/Octet_encoding_rules/ryUN7doc">OER</a>, or custom via <a href="/facts/Encoding_Control_Notation/xn7R6KvS">ECN</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML_Encoding_Rules/ryUN7doc">XER</a>, <a href="/facts/JSON_encoding_rules/ryUN7doc">JER</a>, <a href="/facts/Generic_String_Encoding_Rules/ryUN7doc">GSER</a>, or custom via <a href="/facts/Encoding_Control_Notation/xn7R6KvS">ECN</a></td><td>Yesf</td><td>Built-in</td><td>—</td><td><a href="/facts/Octet_encoding_rules/ryUN7doc">OER</a></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Bencode/vGRVKwCU">Bencode</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Bram_Cohen/8HPX9cqp">Bram Cohen</a> (creator)<a href="/facts/BitTorrent,_Inc./gCLzcBUc">BitTorrent, Inc.</a> (maintainer)</td><td>—</td><td>De facto as BEP</td><td>Part of <a href="http://bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0003.html">BitTorrent protocol specification</a></td><td>Except numbers and delimiters, being ASCII</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a></td><td><a href="/facts/MongoDB/9myQKGoY">MongoDB</a></td><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://bsonspec.org">BSON Specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Cap%27n_Proto/pE4zLGXq">Cap'n Proto</a></td><td>Kenton Varda</td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://capnproto.org/encoding.html">Cap'n Proto Encoding Spec</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Partialh</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/CBOR/zL3Ctuf5">CBOR</a></td><td>Carsten Bormann, <a href="/facts/Paul_Hoffman_(engineer)/ynvQN7Ee">P. Hoffman</a></td><td><a href="/facts/MessagePack/DtusIl5c">MessagePack</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:2" href="#fn:2">2</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>RFC 8949</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes, through tagging</td><td><a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8610">CDDL</a></td><td><a href="/facts/FIDO_Alliance/MJWesQXW">FIDO2</a></td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Comma-separated_values/dv1pSR1r">Comma-separated values</a> (CSV)</td><td>RFC author:Yakov Shafranovich</td><td>—</td><td>Myriad informal variants</td><td>RFC 4180(among others)</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Common_Data_Representation/4cJhKp0e">Common Data Representation</a> (CDR)</td><td><a href="/facts/Object_Management_Group/SNpN8n9U">Object Management Group</a></td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/General_Inter-ORB_Protocol/jQNXfeE0">General Inter-ORB Protocol</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Ada, C, C++, Java, Cobol, Lisp, Python, Ruby, Smalltalk</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/D-Bus/gpzM6fjI">D-Bus</a> Message Protocol</td><td><a href="/facts/Freedesktop.org/qGlctGYA">freedesktop.org</a></td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#message-protocol">D-Bus Specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Partial(Signature strings)</td><td><a href="/facts/D-Bus/gpzM6fjI">Yes</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Efficient_XML_Interchange/n63rabV5">Efficient XML Interchange</a> (EXI)</td><td><a href="/facts/World_Wide_Web_Consortium/lGWmhF6M">W3C</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a>, Efficient XML</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/exi/">Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XPointer/cfn4FjDH">XPointer</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML_Schema_(W3C)/X6Uly3dm">XML Schema</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Document_Object_Model/GglE6jGx">DOM</a>, <a href="/facts/Simple_API_for_XML/BwGKJUru">SAX</a>, <a href="/facts/StAX/QRrGhWsz">StAX</a>, <a href="/facts/XQuery/47Ep0fSS">XQuery</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Extensible_Data_Notation/CWWt0rX1">Extensible Data Notation</a> (edn)</td><td><a href="/facts/Rich_Hickey/rGr87VgF">Rich Hickey</a> / Clojure community</td><td><a href="/facts/Clojure/3JRNxKXx">Clojure</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://github.com/edn-format/edn">Official edn spec</a></td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Clojure, Ruby, Go, C++, Javascript, Java, CLR, ObjC, Python<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:3" href="#fn:3">3</a></td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/FlatBuffers/QAzSy9wt">FlatBuffers</a></td><td>Google</td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/">Flatbuffers GitHub</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/Apache_Arrow/BnuVf8We">Apache Arrow</a></td><td>Partial(internal to the buffer)</td><td><a href="https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/flatbuffers_guide_writing_schema.html">Yes</a></td><td>C++, Java, C#, Go, Python, Rust, JavaScript, PHP, C, Dart, Lua, TypeScript</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Fast_Infoset/6T4kUXdd">Fast Infoset</a></td><td><a href="/facts/International_Organization_for_Standardization/IacYR7Yg">ISO</a>, <a href="/facts/International_Electrotechnical_Commission/hSK0kjwI">IEC</a>, <a href="/facts/ITU-T/9nJwkPYx">ITU-T</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>ITU-T X.891 and ISO/IEC 24824-1:2007</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td><a href="/facts/XPointer/cfn4FjDH">XPointer</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML_schema/uWam66Rj">XML schema</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Document_Object_Model/GglE6jGx">DOM</a>, <a href="/facts/Simple_API_for_XML/BwGKJUru">SAX</a>, <a href="/facts/XQuery/47Ep0fSS">XQuery</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/FHIR/lJ0tVfT6">FHIR</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Health_Level_7/B4QPUQP0">Health Level 7</a></td><td><a href="/facts/REST/Q58zfr5h">REST</a> basics</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/Fast_Healthcare_Interoperability_Resources/lJ0tVfT6">Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Hapi for FHIR<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:4" href="#fn:4">4</a> <a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a>, <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a>, <a href="/facts/Turtle_(syntax)/PD2stm7f">Turtle</a></td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Ion_(serialization_format)/kMKSjRLY">Ion</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Amazon.com/YzUTUVE8">Amazon</a></td><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/spec.html">The Amazon Ion Specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://amzn.github.io/ion-schema/">Ion schema</a></td><td>C, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Rust</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a> serialization</td><td><a href="/facts/Oracle_Corporation/0z14FygH">Oracle Corporation</a></td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/serialization/index.html">Java Object Serialization</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Douglas_Crockford/wIFvJkte">Douglas Crockford</a></td><td><a href="/facts/JavaScript_syntax/TXuGf0g7">JavaScript syntax</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/std90">STD 90</a>/RFC 8259(ancillary:RFC 6901,RFC 6902), <a href="http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ECMA-ST/ECMA-404.pdf">ECMA-404</a>, <a href="https://www.iso.org/standard/71616.html">ISO/IEC 21778:2017</a></td><td>No, but see <a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a>, <a href="/facts/Smile_(data_interchange_format)/MnNSYfTQ">Smile</a>, <a href="/facts/UBJSON/H4jFGrrh">UBJSON</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6901">JSON Pointer (RFC 6901)</a>, or alternately, <a href="http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/">JSONPath</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20120922110739/http://bluelinecity.com/software/jpath/">JPath</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20121203081945/http://www.jspon.org/">JSPON</a>, <a href="https://github.com/lloyd/JSONSelect">json:select()</a>; and <a href="/facts/JSON-LD/UPz7qvTq">JSON-LD</a></td><td>Partial(<a href="http://json-schema.org/">JSON Schema Proposal</a>, <a href="/facts/ASN.1/ryUN7doc">ASN.1</a> with <a href="/facts/JSON_encoding_rules/ryUN7doc">JER</a>, <a href="http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/">Kwalify</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210812231831/http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/">Archived</a> 2021-08-12 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a>, <a href="http://rjbs.manxome.org/rx/">Rx</a>, <a href="/facts/JSON-LD/UPz7qvTq">JSON-LD</a></td><td>Partial(<a href="https://github.com/dscape/clarinet">Clarinet</a>, <a href="https://www.sitepen.com/blog/jsonquery-data-querying-beyond-jsonpath">JSONQuery</a> / <a href="https://www.sitepen.com/blog/resource-query-language-a-query-language-for-the-web-nosql">RQL</a>, <a href="http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/">JSONPath</a>), <a href="/facts/JSON-LD/UPz7qvTq">JSON-LD</a></td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/MessagePack/DtusIl5c">MessagePack</a></td><td>Sadayuki Furuhashi</td><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a> (loosely)</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md">MessagePack format specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Netstring/IWVvDH01">Netstrings</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Dan_Bernstein/KQLuMRTx">Dan Bernstein</a></td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://cr.yp.to/proto/netstrings.txt">netstrings.txt</a></td><td>Except ASCII delimiters</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OGDL/dtcAXe6K">OGDL</a></td><td>Rolf Veen</td><td>?</td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://ogdl.org/spec/">Specification</a></td><td><a href="http://ogdl.org/spec/binary.html">Binary specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="http://ogdl.org/spec/path.html">Path specification</a></td><td><a href="http://ogdl.org/spec/schema.html">Schema WD</a></td><td></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OPC_Unified_Architecture/DX40Sh4D">OPC-UA Binary</a></td><td><a href="/facts/OPC_Foundation/BTbvjVMu">OPC Foundation</a></td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://opcfoundation.org">opcfoundation.org</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OpenDDL/4dRNtnEx">OpenDDL</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Eric_Lengyel/Xfhf9rTw">Eric Lengyel</a></td><td><a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>, <a href="/facts/PHP/vU6YRJX0">PHP</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://openddl.org/">OpenDDL.org</a></td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://openddl.org/">OpenDDL library</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/PHP_serialization_format/tIVHkRMx">PHP serialization format</a></td><td>PHP Group</td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Pickle_(Python)/T00auFvv">Pickle (Python)</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Guido_van_Rossum/xADcJVjl">Guido van Rossum</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a></td><td>De facto as <a href="/facts/Python_Enhancement_Proposal/YbuGqofa">PEPs</a></td><td><a href="https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3154/">PEP 3154 – Pickle protocol version 4</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:5" href="#fn:5">5</a></td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Property_list/tlRqjIvP">Property list</a></td><td><a href="/facts/NeXT/qcCmhJl3">NeXT</a> (creator)<a href="/facts/Apple_Inc./oTJYta3k">Apple</a> (maintainer)</td><td>?</td><td>Partial</td><td><a href="https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd">Public DTD for XML format</a></td><td>Yesa</td><td>Yesb</td><td>No</td><td>?</td><td><a href="https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/PropertyLists/Introduction/Introduction.html">Cocoa</a>, <a href="https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFPropertyLists/CFPropertyLists.html">CoreFoundation</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20081210064322/http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/802-2112/6i63mn65o?a=view">OpenStep</a>, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110519164921/http://gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html">GnuStep</a></td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Protocol_Buffers/4Pj3zymo">Protocol Buffers</a> (protobuf)</td><td><a href="/facts/Google/GT9Sugza">Google</a></td><td>—</td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/encoding">Developer Guide: Encoding</a>, <a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/proto2-spec">proto2 specification</a>, and <a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/proto3-spec">proto3 specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>Yesd</td><td>No</td><td>Built-in</td><td>C++, Java, C#, Python, Go, Ruby, Objective-C, C, Dart, Perl, PHP, R, Rust, Scala, Swift, Julia, Erlang, D, Haskell, ActionScript, Delphi, Elixir, Elm, Erlang, GopherJS, Haskell, Haxe, JavaScript, Kotlin, Lua, Matlab, Mercurt, OCaml, Prolog, Solidity, Typescript, Vala, Visual Basic</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/S-expression/TmCqHcln">S-expressions</a></td><td><a href="/facts/John_McCarthy_(computer_scientist)/ajKU4SdD">John McCarthy</a> (original)<a href="/facts/Ron_Rivest/nQsIcAKa">Ron Rivest</a> (internet draft)</td><td><a href="/facts/Lisp_(programming_language)/xJHA3CrX">Lisp</a>, <a href="/facts/Netstring/IWVvDH01">Netstrings</a></td><td>Largely de facto</td><td><a href="http://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/Sexp.txt">"S-Expressions"</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20131007024815/http://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/Sexp.txt">Archived</a> 2013-10-07 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a> <a href="/facts/Internet_Draft/h13QYxXa">Internet Draft</a></td><td>Yes, canonical representation</td><td>Yes, advanced transport representation</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Smile_(data_interchange_format)/MnNSYfTQ">Smile</a></td><td>Tatu Saloranta</td><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="https://github.com/FasterXML/smile-format-specification">Smile Format Specification</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Partial(<a href="http://json-schema.org/">JSON Schema Proposal</a>, other JSON schemas/IDLs)</td><td>Partial(via JSON APIs implemented with Smile backend, on Jackson, Python)</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/SOAP/vXlAMnjp">SOAP</a></td><td><a href="/facts/W3C/lGWmhF6M">W3C</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/W3C_Recommendation/lGWmhF6M">W3C Recommendations</a>:<a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2000/NOTE-SOAP-20000508/">SOAP/1.1</a><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/soap12/">SOAP/1.2</a></td><td>Partial(<a href="/facts/Efficient_XML_Interchange/n63rabV5">Efficient XML Interchange</a>, <a href="/facts/Binary_XML/MG5fUaGF">Binary XML</a>, <a href="/facts/Fast_Infoset/6T4kUXdd">Fast Infoset</a>, <a href="/facts/Message_Transmission_Optimization_Mechanism/czoTpJxu">MTOM</a>, <a href="/facts/XSD/X6Uly3dm">XSD</a> base64 data)</td><td>Yes</td><td>Built-in id/ref, <a href="/facts/XPointer/cfn4FjDH">XPointer</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td><a href="/facts/WSDL/tQPIot4A">WSDL</a>, <a href="/facts/XML_schema/uWam66Rj">XML schema</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Document_Object_Model/GglE6jGx">DOM</a>, <a href="/facts/Simple_API_for_XML/BwGKJUru">SAX</a>, <a href="/facts/XQuery/47Ep0fSS">XQuery</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/SDXF/kMIeNHpn">Structured Data eXchange Formats</a></td><td>Max Wildgrube</td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td>RFC 3072</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/UBJSON/H4jFGrrh">UBJSON</a></td><td>The Buzz Media, LLC</td><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a>, <a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://ubjson.org/">ubjson.org</a></td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/External_Data_Representation/skQvMFCh">eXternal Data Representation</a> (XDR)</td><td><a href="/facts/Sun_Microsystems/VJ9EzEFd">Sun Microsystems</a> (creator)<a href="/facts/IETF/tIcCsFhX">IETF</a> (maintainer)</td><td>—</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="https://tools.ietf.org/html/std67">STD 67</a>/RFC 4506</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a></td><td><a href="/facts/W3C/lGWmhF6M">W3C</a></td><td><a href="/facts/SGML/euIKXwHV">SGML</a></td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/W3C_Recommendation/lGWmhF6M">W3C Recommendations</a>:<a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126/">1.0 (Fifth Edition)</a><a href="http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml11-20060816/">1.1 (Second Edition)</a></td><td>Partial(<a href="/facts/Efficient_XML_Interchange/n63rabV5">Efficient XML Interchange</a>, <a href="/facts/Binary_XML/MG5fUaGF">Binary XML</a>, <a href="/facts/Fast_Infoset/6T4kUXdd">Fast Infoset</a>, <a href="/facts/XSD/X6Uly3dm">XSD</a> base64 data)</td><td>Yes</td><td><a href="/facts/XPointer/cfn4FjDH">XPointer</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML_schema/uWam66Rj">XML schema</a>, <a href="/facts/RELAX_NG/16dj0TGq">RELAX NG</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Document_Object_Model/GglE6jGx">DOM</a>, <a href="/facts/Simple_API_for_XML/BwGKJUru">SAX</a>, <a href="/facts/XQuery/47Ep0fSS">XQuery</a>, <a href="/facts/XPath/0eCtJoj7">XPath</a></td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/XML-RPC/UleaeVRo">XML-RPC</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Dave_Winer/HGEn6245">Dave Winer</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:6" href="#fn:6">6</a></td><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://xmlrpc.com/spec.md">XML-RPC Specification</a></td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/YAML/mAY10H2Y">YAML</a></td><td>Clark Evans,Ingy döt Net,and Oren Ben-Kiki</td><td><a href="/facts/C_(programming_language)/Ky2No763">C</a>, <a href="/facts/Java_(programming_language)/9ScgFyAL">Java</a>, <a href="/facts/Perl/fx31kjlT">Perl</a>, <a href="/facts/Python_(programming_language)/YbuGqofa">Python</a>, <a href="/facts/Ruby_(programming_language)/BeYSaPSR">Ruby</a>, <a href="/facts/Email/6pD9GLtI">Email</a>, <a href="/facts/HTML/sSc3fT78">HTML</a>, <a href="/facts/MIME/P8PDYuts">MIME</a>, <a href="/facts/URI/UjyqxTpA">URI</a>, <a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a>, <a href="/facts/Simple_API_for_XML/BwGKJUru">SAX</a>, <a href="/facts/SOAP/vXlAMnjp">SOAP</a>, <a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:7" href="#fn:7">7</a></td><td>No</td><td><a href="http://www.yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html">Version 1.2</a></td><td>No</td><td>Yes</td><td>Yes</td><td>Partial(<a href="http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/">Kwalify</a> <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20210812231831/http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/">Archived</a> 2021-08-12 at the <a href="/facts/Wayback_Machine/nmQ3a6JC">Wayback Machine</a>, <a href="http://rjbs.manxome.org/rx/">Rx</a>, built-in language type-defs)</td><td>No</td><td>No</td></tr><tr><th>Name</th><th>Creator-maintainer</th><th>Based on</th><th>Standardized?</th><th><a href="/facts/Specification/xEMUsktp">Specification</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Binary_format/ysttM8hh">Binary</a>?</th><th><a href="/facts/Human-readable/GDE1fpHT">Human-readable</a>?</th><th>Supports <a href="/facts/Reference_(computer_science)/1vm2Bph1">references</a>?e</th><th>Schema-<a href="/facts/Interface_description_language/FpByLf4X">IDL</a>?</th><th>Standard <a href="/facts/API/GMlN4vUr">APIs</a></th><th>Supports <a href="/facts/Zero-copy/cc13RBxU">zero-copy</a> operations</th></tr></tbody></table>

<ol><li>^ The current default format is binary.</li><li>^ The "classic" format is plain text, and an XML format is also supported.</li><li>^ Theoretically possible due to abstraction, but no implementation is included.</li><li>^ The primary format is binary, but text and JSON formats are available.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:8" href="#fn:8">8</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:9" href="#fn:9">9</a></li><li>^ Means that generic tools/libraries know how to encode, decode, and dereference a reference to another piece of data in the same document. A tool may require the <a href="/facts/Interface_description_language/FpByLf4X">IDL</a> file, but no more. Excludes custom, non-standardized referencing techniques.</li><li>^ ASN.1 has X.681 (Information Object System), X.682 (Constraints), and X.683 (Parameterization) that allow for the precise specification of open types where the types of values can be identified by integers, by <a href="/facts/Object_identifier/wEC9ubWd">OIDs</a>, etc. OIDs are a standard format for globally unique identifiers, as well as a standard notation ("absolute reference") for referencing a component of a value. For example, PKIX uses such notation in RFC 5912. With such notation (constraints on parameterized types using information object sets), generic ASN.1 tools/libraries can automatically encode/decode/resolve references within a document.</li><li>^ The primary format is binary, a json encoder is available.<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:10" href="#fn:10">10</a></li><li>^ The primary format is binary, but a text format is available.</li></ol>
<h2 id="syntax-comparison-of-human-readable-formats">Syntax comparison of human-readable formats</h2>

<table><tbody><tr><th>Format</th><th><a href="/facts/Nullable_type/0jI1MoNq">Null</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> true</th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> false</th><th><a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">Integer</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Floating-point/eIckahxe">Floating-point</a></th><th><a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">String</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Array_data_type/gHJJ3XPw">Array</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Associative_array/IFGd2xcP">Associative array</a>/<a href="/facts/Object_(computer_science)/eX99dtAw">Object</a></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/XML_Encoding_Rules/ryUN7doc">ASN.1</a>(XML Encoding Rules)</td><td><foo /></td><td><foo>true</foo></td><td><foo>false</foo></td><td><foo>685230</foo></td><td><foo>6.8523015e+5</foo></td><td><foo>A to Z</foo></td><td><SeqOfUnrelatedDatatypes> <isMarried>true</isMarried> <hobby /> <velocity>-42.1e7</velocity> <bookname>A to Z</bookname> <bookname>We said, "no".</bookname></SeqOfUnrelatedDatatypes></td><td>An object (the key is a field name): <person> <isMarried>true</isMarried> <hobby /> <height>1.85</height> <name>Bob Peterson</name></person>A data mapping (the key is a data value):<competition> <measurement> <name>John</name> <height>3.14</height> </measurement> <measurement> <name>Jane</name> <height>2.718</height> </measurement></competition>a</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Comma-separated_values/dv1pSR1r">CSV</a>b</td><td>nulla(or an empty element in the row)a</td><td>1atruea</td><td>0afalsea</td><td>685230-685230a</td><td>6.8523015e+5a</td><td>A to Z"We said, ""no""."</td><td>true,,-42.1e7,"A to Z"</td><td>42,1A to Z,1,2,3</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Extensible_Data_Notation/CWWt0rX1">edn</a></td><td>nil</td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>685230-685230</td><td>6.8523015e+5</td><td>"A to Z", "A \"up to\" Z"</td><td>[true nil -42.1e7 "A to Z"]</td><td>{:kw 1, "42" true, "A to Z" [1 2 3]}</td></tr><tr><th>Format</th><th><a href="/facts/Nullable_type/0jI1MoNq">Null</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> true</th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> false</th><th><a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">Integer</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Floating-point/eIckahxe">Floating-point</a></th><th><a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">String</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Array_data_type/gHJJ3XPw">Array</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Associative_array/IFGd2xcP">Associative array</a>/<a href="/facts/Object_(computer_science)/eX99dtAw">Object</a></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Ion_(Serialization_format)/kMKSjRLY">Ion</a></td><td>nullnull.nullnull.boolnull.intnull.floatnull.decimalnull.timestampnull.stringnull.symbolnull.blobnull.clobnull.structnull.listnull.sexp</td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>685230-6852300xA74AE0b111010010101110</td><td>6.8523015e5</td><td>"A to Z"'''A to Z'''</td><td>[true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z"]</td><td>{'42': true, 'A to Z': [1, 2, 3]}</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Netstring/IWVvDH01">Netstrings</a>c</td><td>0:,a4:null,a</td><td>1:1,a4:true,a</td><td>1:0,a5:false,a</td><td>6:685230,a</td><td>9:6.8523e+5,a</td><td>6:A to Z,</td><td>29:4:true,0:,7:-42.1e7,6:A to Z,,</td><td>41:9:2:42,1:1,,25:6:A to Z,12:1:1,1:2,1:3,,,,a</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/JSON/bs1rUAhd">JSON</a></td><td>null</td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>685230-685230</td><td>6.8523015e+5</td><td>"A to Z"</td><td>[true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z"]</td><td>{"42": true, "A to Z": [1, 2, 3]}</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OGDL/dtcAXe6K">OGDL</a>[verification needed]</td><td>nulla</td><td>truea</td><td>falsea</td><td>685230a</td><td>6.8523015e+5a</td><td>"A to Z"'A to Z'NoSpaces</td><td>truenull-42.1e7"A to Z"(true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z")</td><td>42 true"A to Z" 1 2 342 true"A to Z", (1, 2, 3)</td></tr><tr><th>Format</th><th><a href="/facts/Nullable_type/0jI1MoNq">Null</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> true</th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> false</th><th><a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">Integer</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Floating-point/eIckahxe">Floating-point</a></th><th><a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">String</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Array_data_type/gHJJ3XPw">Array</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Associative_array/IFGd2xcP">Associative array</a>/<a href="/facts/Object_(computer_science)/eX99dtAw">Object</a></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OpenDDL/4dRNtnEx">OpenDDL</a></td><td>ref {null}</td><td>bool {true}</td><td>bool {false}</td><td>int32 {685230}int32 {0x74AE}int32 {0b111010010101110}</td><td>float {6.8523015e+5}</td><td>string {"A to Z"}</td><td>Homogeneous array:int32 {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}Heterogeneous array:array{ bool {true} ref {null} float {-42.1e7} string {"A to Z"}}</td><td>dict{ value (key = "42") {bool {true}} value (key = "A to Z") {int32 {1, 2, 3}}}</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/PHP_serialization_format/tIVHkRMx">PHP serialization format</a></td><td>N;</td><td>b:1;</td><td>b:0;</td><td>i:685230;i:-685230;</td><td>d:685230.15;dd:INF;d:-INF;d:NAN;</td><td>s:6:"A to Z";</td><td>a:4:{i:0;b:1;i:1;N;i:2;d:-421000000;i:3;s:6:"A to Z";}</td><td>Associative array:a:2:{i:42;b:1;s:6:"A to Z";a:3:{i:0;i:1;i:1;i:2;i:2;i:3;}}Object:O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:4:"John";d:3.14;s:4:"Jane";d:2.718;}d</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Pickle_(Python)/T00auFvv">Pickle (Python)</a></td><td>N.</td><td>I01\n.</td><td>I00\n.</td><td>I685230\n.</td><td>F685230.15\n.</td><td>S'A to Z'\n.</td><td>(lI01\na(laF-421000000.0\naS'A to Z'\na.</td><td>(dI42\nI01\nsS'A to Z'\n(lI1\naI2\naI3\nas.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Property_list/tlRqjIvP">Property list</a>(plain text format)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:11" href="#fn:11">11</a></td><td>—</td><td><*BY></td><td><*BN></td><td><*I685230></td><td><*R6.8523015e+5></td><td>"A to Z"</td><td>( <*BY>, <*R-42.1e7>, "A to Z" )</td><td>{ "42" = <*BY>; "A to Z" = ( <*I1>, <*I2>, <*I3> );}</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Property_list/tlRqjIvP">Property list</a>(XML format)<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:12" href="#fn:12">12</a></td><td>—</td><td><true /></td><td><false /></td><td><integer>685230</integer></td><td><real>6.8523015e+5</real></td><td><string>A to Z</string></td><td><array> <true /> <real>-42.1e7</real> <string>A to Z</string></array></td><td><dict> <key>42</key> <true /> <key>A to Z</key> <array> <integer>1</integer> <integer>2</integer> <integer>3</integer> </array></dict></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Protocol_Buffers/4Pj3zymo">Protocol Buffers</a></td><td>—</td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>685230-685230</td><td>20.0855369</td><td>"A to Z""sdfff2 \000\001\002\377\376\375""q\tqq<>q2&\001\377"</td><td>field1: "value1"field1: "value2"field1: "value3anotherfield { foo: 123 bar: 456}anotherfield { foo: 222 bar: 333}</td><td>thing1: "blahblah"thing2: 18923743thing3: -44thing4 { submessage_field1: "foo" submessage_field2: false}enumeratedThing: SomeEnumeratedValuething5: 123.456[extensionFieldFoo]: "etc"[extensionFieldThatIsAnEnum]: EnumValue</td></tr><tr><th>Format</th><th><a href="/facts/Nullable_type/0jI1MoNq">Null</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> true</th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Boolean</a> false</th><th><a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">Integer</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Floating-point/eIckahxe">Floating-point</a></th><th><a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">String</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Array_data_type/gHJJ3XPw">Array</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Associative_array/IFGd2xcP">Associative array</a>/<a href="/facts/Object_(computer_science)/eX99dtAw">Object</a></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/S-expression/TmCqHcln">S-expressions</a></td><td>NILnil</td><td>T#tftrue</td><td>NIL#fffalse</td><td>685230</td><td>6.8523015e+5</td><td>abc"abc"#616263#3:abc{MzphYmM=}|YWJj|</td><td>(T NIL -42.1e7 "A to Z")</td><td>((42 T) ("A to Z" (1 2 3)))</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/YAML/mAY10H2Y">YAML</a></td><td>~nullNullNULL<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:13" href="#fn:13">13</a></td><td>yYyesYesYESonOnONtrueTrueTRUE<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:14" href="#fn:14">14</a></td><td>nNnoNoNOoffOffOFFfalseFalseFALSE<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:15" href="#fn:15">15</a></td><td>685230+685_230-685230024722560x_0A_74_AE0b1010_0111_0100_1010_1110190:20:30<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:16" href="#fn:16">16</a></td><td>6.8523015e+5685.230_15e+03685_230.15190:20:30.15.inf-.inf.Inf.INF.NaN.nan.NAN<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:17" href="#fn:17">17</a></td><td>A to Z"A to Z"'A to Z'</td><td>[y, ~, -42.1e7, "A to Z"]- y-- -42.1e7- A to Z</td><td>{"John":3.14, "Jane":2.718}42: yA to Z: [1, 2, 3]</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/XML/clNgUfWk">XML</a>e and <a href="/facts/SOAP/vXlAMnjp">SOAP</a></td><td><null />a</td><td>true</td><td>false</td><td>685230</td><td>6.8523015e+5</td><td>A to Z</td><td><item>true</item><item xsi:nil="true"/><item>-42.1e7</item><item>A to Z<item></td><td><map> <entry key="42">true</entry> <entry key="A to Z"> <item val="1"/> <item val="2"/> <item val="3"/> </entry></map></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/XML-RPC/UleaeVRo">XML-RPC</a></td><td></td><td><value><boolean>1</boolean></value></td><td><value><boolean>0</boolean></value></td><td><value><int>685230</int></value></td><td><value><double>6.8523015e+5</double></value></td><td><value><string>A to Z</string></value></td><td><value><array> <data> <value><boolean>1</boolean></value> <value><double>-42.1e7</double></value> <value><string>A to Z</string></value> </data> </array></value></td><td><value><struct> <member> <name>42</name> <value><boolean>1</boolean></value> </member> <member> <name>A to Z</name> <value> <array> <data> <value><int>1</int></value> <value><int>2</int></value> <value><int>3</int></value> </data> </array> </value> </member></struct></td></tr></tbody></table>
<ol><li>^ Omitted XML elements are commonly decoded by <a href="/facts/XML_data_binding/3dJzxevS">XML data binding</a> tools as NULLs. Shown here is another possible encoding; <a href="/facts/XML_schema/uWam66Rj">XML schema</a> does not define an encoding for this datatype.</li><li>^ The RFC CSV specification only deals with delimiters, newlines, and quote characters; it does not directly deal with serializing programming <a href="/facts/Data_structure/yNsNvL1I">data structures</a>.</li><li>^ The <a href="/facts/Netstring/IWVvDH01">netstrings</a> specification only deals with nested <a href="/facts/Byte_string/4ChJu5WS">byte strings</a>; anything else is outside the scope of the specification.</li><li>^ PHP will unserialize any floating-point number correctly, but will serialize them to their full decimal expansion. For example, 3.14 will be serialized to 3.140000000000000124344978758017532527446746826171875.</li><li>^ <a href="/facts/XML_data_binding/3dJzxevS">XML data bindings</a> and <a href="/facts/SOAP/vXlAMnjp">SOAP</a> serialization tools provide type-safe XML serialization of programming <a href="/facts/Data_structure/yNsNvL1I">data structures</a> into XML. Shown are XML values that can be placed in XML elements and attributes.</li><li>^ This syntax is not compatible with the Internet-Draft, but is used by some dialects of <a href="/facts/Lisp_(programming_language)/xJHA3CrX">Lisp</a>.</li></ol>

<h2 id="comparison-of-binary-formats">Comparison of binary formats</h2>
<table><tbody><tr><th>Format</th><th><a href="/facts/Nullable_type/0jI1MoNq">Null</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Boolean_data_type/0GWYLDoC">Booleans</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Integer_(computer_science)/zWabo5M9">Integer</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Floating-point/eIckahxe">Floating-point</a></th><th><a href="/facts/String_(computer_science)/4ChJu5WS">String</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Array_(data_type)/gHJJ3XPw">Array</a></th><th><a href="/facts/Associative_array/IFGd2xcP">Associative array</a>/<a href="/facts/Object_(computer_science)/eX99dtAw">object</a></th></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/ASN.1/ryUN7doc">ASN.1</a>(<a href="/facts/Basic_Encoding_Rules/sNL76pTs">BER</a>, <a href="/facts/Packed_Encoding_Rules/ryUN7doc">PER</a> or <a href="/facts/Octet_encoding_rules/ryUN7doc">OER</a> encoding)</td><td>NULL type</td><td>BOOLEAN: <ul><li>BER: as 1 byte in binary form;</li><li>PER: as 1 bit;</li><li>OER: as 1 byte</li></ul></td><td>INTEGER: <ul><li>BER: variable-length big-endian binary representation (up to 221024 bits);</li><li>PER Unaligned: a fixed number of bits if the integer type has a finite range; a variable number of bits otherwise;</li><li>PER Aligned: a fixed number of bits if the integer type has a finite range and the size of the range is less than 65536; a variable number of octets otherwise;</li><li>OER: 1, 2, or 4 octets (either signed or unsigned) if the integer type has a finite range that fits in that number of octets; a variable number of octets otherwise</li></ul></td><td>REAL:<ul><li>base-10 real values are represented as character strings in ISO 6093 format;</li><li>binary real values are represented in a binary format that includes the mantissa, the base (2, 8, or 16), and the exponent;</li><li>the special values NaN, -INF, +INF, and negative zero are also supported</li></ul></td><td>Multiple valid types (VisibleString, PrintableString, GeneralString, UniversalString, UTF8String)</td><td>Data specifications SET OF (unordered) and SEQUENCE OF (guaranteed order)</td><td>User definable type</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a></td><td>\x0A(1 byte)</td><td>True: \x08\x01False: \x08\x00(2 bytes)</td><td>int32: 32-bit <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/2%27s_complement/xhjYpnsc">2's complement</a> or int64: 64-bit <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/2%27s_complement/xhjYpnsc">2's complement</a></td><td><a href="/facts/Double-precision_floating-point_format/JYyXXYFM">Double</a>: <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/Binary64/JYyXXYFM">binary64</a></td><td><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a>-encoded, preceded by int32-encoded string length in bytes</td><td><a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a> embedded document with numeric keys</td><td><a href="/facts/BSON/jK9eaM0x">BSON</a> embedded document</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/CBOR/zL3Ctuf5">Concise Binary Object Representation</a> (CBOR)</td><td>\xf6(1 byte)</td><td><ul><li>True: \xf5</li><li>False: \xf4</li></ul>(1 byte)</td><td><ul><li>Small positive/negative \x00–\x17 & \x20–\x37 (1 byte)</li><li>8-bit: positive \x18, negative \x38 (+ 1 byte)</li><li>16-bit: positive \x19, negative \x39 (+ 2 bytes)</li><li>32-bit: positive \x1A, negative \x3A (+ 4 bytes)</li><li>64-bit: positive \x1B, negative \x3B (+ 8 bytes)</li><li>Negative x encoded as (−x − 1)</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>IEEE half/single/double \xf9–\xfb (+ 2–8 bytes)</li><li>Decimals and bigfloats (4+ bytes) encoded as \xc4 tag + 2-item array of integer mantissa & exponent</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Length and content (1–9 bytes overhead)</li><li>Bytestring \x40–\x5f</li><li><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a> \x60–\x7f</li><li>Indefinite partial strings \x5f and \x7f stitched together until \xff.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Length and items \x80–\x9e</li><li>Indefinite list \x9f terminated by \xff entry.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Length (in pairs) and items \xa0–\xbe</li><li>Indefinite map \xbf terminated by \xff key.</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Efficient_XML_Interchange/n63rabV5">Efficient XML Interchange (EXI)</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:18" href="#fn:18">18</a>(Unpreserved lexical values format)</td><td>xsi:nil is not allowed in binary context.</td><td>1–2 bit integer interpreted as boolean.</td><td>Boolean sign, plus arbitrary length 7-bit octets, parsed until most-significant bit is 0, in little-endian. The schema can set the zero-point to any arbitrary number.Unsigned skips the boolean flag.</td><td><ul><li>Float: integer mantissa and integer exponent.</li><li>Decimal: boolean sign, integer whole value, integer fractional.</li></ul></td><td>Length prefixed integer-encoded Unicode. Integers may represent enumerations or string table entries instead.</td><td>Length prefixed set of items.</td><td>Not in protocol.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/FlatBuffers/QAzSy9wt">FlatBuffers</a></td><td>Encoded as absence of field in parent object</td><td><ul><li>True: \x01</li><li>False: \x00</li></ul>(1 byte)</td><td><a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">Little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/2%27s_complement/xhjYpnsc">2's complement</a> signed and unsigned 8/16/32/64 bits</td><td><ul><li><a href="/facts/Single-precision_floating-point_format/e6Fez7BM">Floats</a>: <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/Binary32/e6Fez7BM">binary32</a></li><li><a href="/facts/Double-precision_floating-point_format/JYyXXYFM">Doubles</a>: <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/Binary64/JYyXXYFM">binary64</a></li></ul></td><td><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a>-encoded, preceded by 32-bit integer length of string in bytes</td><td>Vectors of any other type, preceded by 32-bit integer length of number of elements</td><td>Tables (schema defined types) or Vectors sorted by key (maps / dictionaries)</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Ion_(serialization_format)/kMKSjRLY">Ion</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:19" href="#fn:19">19</a></td><td>\x0f<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:20" href="#fn:20">20</a></td><td><ul><li>True: \x11</li><li>False: \x10</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Positive \x2x, negative \x3x</li><li>Zero is always encoded in tag byte.</li><li>BigInts over 13 bytes (104 bits) have 1+ byte overhead for length</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>\x44 (32-bit float)</li><li>\x48 (64-bit float)</li><li>Zero is always encoded in tag byte.</li></ul></td><td><ul><li><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a>: \x8x</li><li>Other strings: \x9x</li><li>Arbitrary length and overhead</li></ul></td><td>\xbx Arbitrary length and overhead. Length in octets.</td><td><ul><li>Structs (numbered fields): \xdx</li><li>Annotations (named fields): \xex</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/MessagePack/DtusIl5c">MessagePack</a></td><td>\xc0</td><td><ul><li>True: \xc3</li><li>False: \xc2</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Single byte "fixnum" (values −32 – 127)</li><li>or typecode (1 byte) + big-endian (u)int8/16/32/64</li></ul></td><td>Typecode (1 byte) + IEEE single/double</td><td><ul><li>Typecode + up to 15 bytes</li><li>or typecode + length as uint8/16/32 + bytes;</li></ul>encoding is unspecified<a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:21" href="#fn:21">21</a></td><td><ul><li>As "fixarray" (single-byte prefix + up to 15 array items)</li><li>or typecode (1 byte) + 2–4 bytes length + array items</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>As "fixmap" (single-byte prefix + up to 15 key-value pairs)</li><li>or typecode (1 byte) + 2–4 bytes length + key-value pairs</li></ul></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Netstring/IWVvDH01">Netstrings</a><a class="footnote-ref" id="fnref:22" href="#fn:22">22</a></td><td>Not in protocol.</td><td>Not in protocol.</td><td>Not in protocol.</td><td>Not in protocol.</td><td>Length-encoded as an ASCII string + ':' + data + ','Length counts only octets between ':' and ','</td><td>Not in protocol.</td><td>Not in protocol.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/OGDL/dtcAXe6K">OGDL</a> Binary</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Property_list/tlRqjIvP">Property list</a>(binary format)</td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Protocol_Buffers/4Pj3zymo">Protocol Buffers</a></td><td></td><td></td><td><ul><li>Variable encoding length signed 32-bit: varint encoding of "ZigZag"-encoded value (n << 1) <a href="/facts/XOR/FHyr7hGQ">XOR</a> (n >> 31)</li><li>Variable encoding length signed 64-bit: varint encoding of "ZigZag"-encoded (n << 1) XOR (n >> 63)</li><li>Constant encoding length 32-bit: 32 bits in <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/2%27s_complement/xhjYpnsc">2's complement</a></li><li>Constant encoding length 64-bit: 64 bits in <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/2%27s_complement/xhjYpnsc">2's complement</a></li></ul></td><td><ul><li><a href="/facts/Single-precision_floating-point_format/e6Fez7BM">Floats</a>: <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/Binary32/e6Fez7BM">binary32</a></li><li><a href="/facts/Double-precision_floating-point_format/JYyXXYFM">Doubles</a>: <a href="/facts/Little-endian/wbrQnyu3">little-endian</a> <a href="/facts/Binary64/JYyXXYFM">binary64</a></li></ul></td><td><a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a>-encoded, preceded by varint-encoded integer length of string in bytes</td><td>Repeated value with the same tag or, for varint-encoded integers only, values packed contiguously and prefixed by tag and total byte length</td><td>—</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Smile_(data_interchange_format)/MnNSYfTQ">Smile</a></td><td>\x21</td><td><ul><li>True: \x23</li><li>False: \x22</li></ul></td><td><ul><li>Single byte "small" (values −16 – 15 encoded as \xc0–\xdf),</li><li>zigzag-encoded varints (1–11 data bytes), or BigInteger</li></ul></td><td>IEEE single/double, BigDecimal</td><td>Length-prefixed "short" Strings (up to 64 bytes), marker-terminated "long" Strings and (optional) back-references</td><td>Arbitrary-length heterogenous arrays with end-marker</td><td>Arbitrary-length key/value pairs with end-marker</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/SDXF/kMIeNHpn">Structured Data eXchange Formats</a> (SDXF)</td><td></td><td></td><td>Big-endian signed 24-bit or 32-bit integer</td><td>Big-endian IEEE double</td><td>Either <a href="/facts/UTF-8/xlaVHSyf">UTF-8</a> or ISO 8859-1 encoded</td><td>List of elements with identical ID and size, preceded by array header with int16 length</td><td>Chunks can contain other chunks to arbitrary depth.</td></tr><tr><td><a href="/facts/Thrift_(protocol)/DWlecvw3">Thrift</a></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td><td></td></tr></tbody></table>

<h2 id="see-also">See also</h2>
<ul><li><a href="/facts/Comparison_of_document_markup_languages/6BQwzvLU">Comparison of document markup languages</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="external-links">External links</h2>
<ul><li><a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-xml-ql/">XML-QL Proposal discussing XML benefits</a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/05/02/champion.html">Daring to Do Less with XML</a></li></ul>

<h2 id="references">References</h2>

<ol>
<li id="fn:1">Apache Thrift <a href="https://thrift.apache.org/" target="_blank">https://thrift.apache.org/</a> <a href="#fnref:1" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:2">Bormann, Carsten (2018-12-26). "CBOR relationship with msgpack". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-08-14. <a href="https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/issues/258#issuecomment-449978394" target="_blank">https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/issues/258#issuecomment-449978394</a> <a href="#fnref:2" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:3">"Implementations". GitHub. <a href="https://github.com/edn-format/edn/wiki/Implementations" target="_blank">https://github.com/edn-format/edn/wiki/Implementations</a> <a href="#fnref:3" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:4">"HAPI FHIR - The Open Source FHIR API for Java". hapifhir.io. <a href="http://hapifhir.io/" target="_blank">http://hapifhir.io/</a> <a href="#fnref:4" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:5">cpython/Lib/pickle.py <a href="https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/v3.9.0/Lib/pickle.py#L137-L144" target="_blank">https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/v3.9.0/Lib/pickle.py#L137-L144</a> <a href="#fnref:5" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:6">"A Brief History of SOAP". www.xml.com. <a href="https://www.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2001/04/04/soap.html" target="_blank">https://www.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2001/04/04/soap.html</a> <a href="#fnref:6" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:7">Ben-Kiki, Oren; Evans, Clark; Net, Ingy döt (2009-10-01). "YAML Ain't Markup Language (YAML) Version 1.2". The Official YAML Web Site. Retrieved 2012-02-10. <a href="http://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2708710" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2708710</a> <a href="#fnref:7" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:8">"text_format.h - Protocol Buffers". Google Developers. <a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/cpp/google.protobuf.text_format" target="_blank">https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/cpp/google.protobuf.text_format</a> <a href="#fnref:8" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:9">"JSON Mapping - Protocol Buffers". Google Developers. <a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json" target="_blank">https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json</a> <a href="#fnref:9" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:10">"Avro Json Format". <a href="https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.9.2/spec.html#json_encoding" target="_blank">https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.9.2/spec.html#json_encoding</a> <a href="#fnref:10" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:11">"NSPropertyListSerialization class documentation". www.gnustep.org. Archived from the original on 2011-05-19. Retrieved 2009-10-28. <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110519164921/http://gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html" target="_blank">https://web.archive.org/web/20110519164921/http://gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html</a> <a href="#fnref:11" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:12">"Documentation Archive". developer.apple.com. <a href="https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/" target="_blank">https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/</a> <a href="#fnref:12" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:13">Oren Ben-Kiki; Clark Evans; Brian Ingerson (2005-01-18). "Null Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1". YAML.org. Retrieved 2009-09-12. <a href="http://yaml.org/type/null.html" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/type/null.html</a> <a href="#fnref:13" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:14">Oren Ben-Kiki; Clark Evans; Brian Ingerson (2005-01-18). "Boolean Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1". YAML.org. Clark C. Evans. Retrieved 2009-09-12. <a href="http://yaml.org/type/bool.html" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/type/bool.html</a> <a href="#fnref:14" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:15">Oren Ben-Kiki; Clark Evans; Brian Ingerson (2005-01-18). "Boolean Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1". YAML.org. Clark C. Evans. Retrieved 2009-09-12. <a href="http://yaml.org/type/bool.html" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/type/bool.html</a> <a href="#fnref:15" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:16">Oren Ben-Kiki; Clark Evans; Brian Ingerson (2005-02-11). "Integer Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1". YAML.org. Clark C. Evans. Retrieved 2009-09-12. <a href="http://yaml.org/type/int.html" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/type/int.html</a> <a href="#fnref:16" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:17">Oren Ben-Kiki; Clark Evans; Brian Ingerson (2005-01-18). "Floating-Point Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1". YAML.org. Clark C. Evans. Retrieved 2009-09-12. <a href="http://yaml.org/type/float.html" target="_blank">http://yaml.org/type/float.html</a> <a href="#fnref:17" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:18">Any XML based representation can be compressed, or generated as, using EXI – "Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0 (Second Edition)".[17] – which is a "Schema Informed" (as opposed to schema-required, or schema-less) binary compression standard for XML. <a href="https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-exi-20140211/Overview.html" target="_blank">https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-exi-20140211/Overview.html</a> <a href="#fnref:18" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:19">Ion Binary Encoding <a href="http://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/docs/binary.html" target="_blank">http://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/docs/binary.html</a> <a href="#fnref:19" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:20">All basic Ion types have a null variant, as its 0xXf tag. Any tag beginning with 0x0X other than 0x0f defines ignored padding. <a href="#fnref:20" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:21">"MessagePack is an extremely efficient object serialization library. It's like JSON, but very fast and small.: msgpack/msgpack". 2 April 2019 – via GitHub. <a href="https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack" target="_blank">https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack</a> <a href="#fnref:21" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
<li id="fn:22">Interpretation of Netstrings is entirely application- or schema-dependent. <a href="#fnref:22" class="footnote-back-ref">↩</a></li>
</ol>

Comparison of data-serialization formats open-in-new

Comparison of data-serialization formats