Edit filter log

'{{Short description|None}} This is a '''comparison of [[data serialization]] [[file format|format]]s''', various ways to convert complex [[object (computer science)|object]]s to sequences of [[bit]]s. It does not include [[markup language]]s used exclusively as [[document file format]]s. ==Overview== {| class="wikitable sortable mw-collapsible" |- ! Name ! Creator-maintainer ! Based on ! Standardized?{{definition needed|date=January 2021}}<!-- A spec is a form of standardization. So what is this column representing? ISO-like standards? Then why are BEPs and PEPs valid? --> ! [[Specification]] ! [[Binary format|Binary]]? ! [[Human-readable]]? ! Supports [[reference (computer science)|reference]]s?{{ref|stdrefs|e}} ! Schema-[[interface description language|IDL]]? ! Standard [[API]]s ! Supports [[zero-copy]] operations |- | [[Apache Avro]] | [[Apache Software Foundation]] | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [https://avro.apache.org/docs/current/spec.html Apache Avro™ Specification] | {{yes}} | {{partial}}{{ref|avrojson|g}} | {{n/a}} | {{yes|Built-in}} | C, C#, C++, Java, PHP, Python, Ruby | {{n/a}} |- | [[Apache Parquet]] | [[Apache Software Foundation]] | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [https://parquet.apache.org Apache&nbsp;Parquet] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{n/a}} | Java, Python, C++ | {{no}} |- | [[ASN.1]] | [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]], [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]], [[ITU-T]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | 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. | {{yes|[[Basic Encoding Rules|BER]], [[Distinguished Encoding Rules|DER]], [[Packed Encoding Rules|PER]], [[Octet encoding rules|OER]], or custom via [[Encoding Control Notation|ECN]]}} | {{yes|[[XML Encoding Rules|XER]], [[JSON encoding rules|JER]], [[Generic String Encoding Rules|GSER]], or custom via [[Encoding Control Notation|ECN]]}} | {{yes}}{{ref|asn1refs|f}} | {{yes|Built-in}} | {{n/a}} | {{yes|[[Octet encoding rules|OER]]}} |- | [[Bencode]] | [[Bram Cohen]] (creator)<br>[[BitTorrent, Inc.]] (maintainer) | {{n/a}} | {{yes| ''De facto'' as {{abbr|BEP|BitTorrent Enhancement Proposal}}}} | Part of [http://bittorrent.org/beps/bep_0003.html BitTorrent protocol specification] | {{partial|Except numbers and delimiters, being ASCII}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | Binn | Bernardo Ramos | [[JSON]] (loosely) | {{no}} | [https://github.com/liteserver/binn/blob/master/spec.md Binn Specification] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | [[BSON]] | [[MongoDB]] | [[JSON]] | {{no}} | [http://bsonspec.org BSON Specification] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | [[Cap%27n Proto]] | Kenton Varda | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [https://capnproto.org/encoding.html Cap'n Proto Encoding Spec] | {{yes}} | {{partial}}{{ref|capnptextformat|h}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | [[CBOR]] | Carsten Bormann, [[Paul Hoffman (engineer)|P. Hoffman]] | [[JSON]] (loosely) | {{yes}} | RFC 8949 | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}}, <br/>through tagging | {{yes|[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc8610 CDDL]}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | [[Comma-separated values]] (CSV) | RFC author:<br>Yakov Shafranovich | {{n/a}} | {{partial|A myriad of informal variants}} | RFC 4180<br>(among others) | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | [[Common Data Representation]] (CDR) | [[Object Management Group]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | [[General Inter-ORB Protocol]] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | Ada, C, C++, Java, Cobol, Lisp, Python, Ruby, Smalltalk | {{n/a}} |- | [[D-Bus]] Message Protocol | [[freedesktop.org]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | [https://dbus.freedesktop.org/doc/dbus-specification.html#message-protocol D-Bus Specification] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{partial}}<br>(Signature strings) | {{yes|[[D-Bus|Yes]]}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[Efficient XML Interchange]] (EXI) | [[World Wide Web Consortium|W3C]] | [[XML]], Efficient XML | {{Yes}} | [https://www.w3.org/TR/exi/ Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0] | {{Yes}} | {{yes|[[XML]]}} | {{Yes|[[XPointer]], [[XPath]]}} | {{Yes|[[XML Schema (W3C)|XML Schema]]}} | {{Yes|[[Document Object Model|DOM]], [[Simple API for XML|SAX]], [[StAX]], [[XQuery]], [[XPath]]}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[FlatBuffers]] | Google | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/ Flatbuffers GitHub] | {{yes}} | {{yes|[[Apache Arrow]]}} | {{partial}}<br>(internal to the buffer) | {{yes|[https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/flatbuffers_guide_writing_schema.html Yes]}} | C++, Java, C#, Go, Python, Rust, JavaScript, PHP, C, Dart, Lua, TypeScript | {{yes}} |- | [[Fast Infoset]] | [[International Organization for Standardization|ISO]], [[International Electrotechnical Commission|IEC]], [[ITU-T]] | [[XML]] | {{yes}} | ITU-T X.891 and ISO/IEC 24824-1:2007 | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes|[[XPointer]], [[XPath]]}} | {{yes|[[XML schema]]}} | {{yes|[[Document Object Model|DOM]], [[Simple API for XML|SAX]], [[XQuery]], [[XPath]]}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[FHIR]] | [[Health Level 7]] | [[REST]] basics | {{Yes}} | [[Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources]] | {{Yes}} | {{Yes}} | {{Yes}} | {{Yes}} | Hapi for FHIR<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hapifhir.io/|title=HAPI FHIR - The Open Source FHIR API for Java|website=hapifhir.io}}</ref> [[JSON]], [[XML]], [[Turtle (syntax)|Turtle]] | {{no}} |- | [[Ion (serialization format)|Ion]] | [[Amazon.com|Amazon]] | [[JSON]] | {{no}} | [https://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/spec.html The Amazon Ion Specification] | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{Yes|[https://amzn.github.io/ion-schema/ Ion schema]}} | C, C#, Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Rust | {{n/a}} |- | [[Java (programming language)|Java]] serialization | [[Oracle Corporation]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | [https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/technotes/guides/serialization/index.html Java Object Serialization] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[JSON]] | [[Douglas Crockford]] | [[JavaScript syntax]] | {{yes}} | [https://tools.ietf.org/html/std90 STD 90]/RFC 8259<br>(ancillary:<br>RFC 6901,<br>RFC 6902), [http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/files/ECMA-ST/ECMA-404.pdf ECMA-404], [https://www.iso.org/standard/71616.html ISO/IEC 21778:2017] | {{no}}, but see [[BSON]], [[Smile (data interchange format)|Smile]], [[UBJSON]] | {{yes}} | {{yes|[https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6901 JSON Pointer (RFC{{nbsp}}6901)], or alternately, [http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/ JSONPath], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120922110739/http://bluelinecity.com/software/jpath/ JPath], [https://web.archive.org/web/20121203081945/http://www.jspon.org/ JSPON], [https://github.com/lloyd/JSONSelect json:select()]; and [[JSON-LD]]}} | {{partial}}<br>([http://json-schema.org/ JSON Schema Proposal], [[ASN.1]] with [[JSON encoding rules|JER]], [http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/ Kwalify], [http://rjbs.manxome.org/rx/ Rx], [http://itemscript.org/ItemscriptSchema.html Itemscript Schema]), [[JSON-LD]] | {{partial}}<br>([https://github.com/dscape/clarinet Clarinet], [https://www.sitepen.com/blog/jsonquery-data-querying-beyond-jsonpath JSONQuery] / [https://www.sitepen.com/blog/resource-query-language-a-query-language-for-the-web-nosql RQL], [http://goessner.net/articles/JsonPath/ JSONPath]), [[JSON-LD]] | {{no}} |- | [[MessagePack]] | Sadayuki Furuhashi | [[JSON]] (loosely) | {{no}} | [https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack/blob/master/spec.md MessagePack format specification] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | [[Netstring]]s | [[Dan Bernstein]] | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [http://cr.yp.to/proto/netstrings.txt netstrings.txt] | {{partial|Except ASCII delimiters}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} |- | [[OGDL]] | Rolf Veen | {{dunno}} | {{no}} | [http://ogdl.org/spec/ Specification] | {{yes|[http://ogdl.org/spec/binary.html Binary specification]}} | {{yes}} | {{yes|[http://ogdl.org/spec/path.html Path specification]}} | {{yes|[http://ogdl.org/spec/schema.html Schema WD]}} | | {{n/a}} |- | [[OPC Unified Architecture|OPC-UA Binary]] | [[OPC Foundation]] | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [https://opcfoundation.org opcfoundation.org] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[OpenDDL]] | [[Eric Lengyel]] | [[C (programming language)|C]], [[PHP]] | {{no}} | [http://openddl.org/ OpenDDL.org] | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes|[http://openddl.org/ OpenDDL library]}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[PHP serialization format]] | PHP Group | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[Pickle (Python)]] | [[Guido van Rossum]] | [[Python (programming language)|Python]] | {{yes|''De facto'' as [[Python Enhancement Proposal|PEP]]s}} | [https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-3154/ PEP 3154 – Pickle protocol version 4] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}}<ref>[https://github.com/python/cpython/blob/v3.9.0/Lib/pickle.py#L137-L144 cpython/Lib/pickle.py]</ref> | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} |- | [[Property list]] | [[NeXT]] (creator)<br>[[Apple Inc.|Apple]] (maintainer) | {{dunno}} | {{partial}} | [https://www.apple.com/DTDs/PropertyList-1.0.dtd Public DTD for XML format] | {{yes}}{{ref|plbin|a}} | {{yes}}{{ref|pltxt|b}} | {{no}} | {{dunno}} | [https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/Cocoa/Conceptual/PropertyLists/Introduction/Introduction.html Cocoa], [https://developer.apple.com/mac/library/documentation/CoreFoundation/Conceptual/CFPropertyLists/CFPropertyLists.html CoreFoundation], [https://web.archive.org/web/20081210064322/http://docs.sun.com/app/docs/doc/802-2112/6i63mn65o?a=view OpenStep], [https://web.archive.org/web/20110519164921/http://gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html GnuStep] | {{no}} |- | [[Protocol Buffers]] (protobuf) | [[Google]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | [https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/encoding Developer Guide: Encoding], [https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/proto2-spec proto2 specification], and [https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/proto3-spec proto3 specification] | {{yes}} | {{yes}}{{ref|pbtextformat|d}} | {{no}} | {{yes|Built-in}} | 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 | {{no}} |- | {{nobr|[[S-expression]]s}} | [[John McCarthy (computer scientist)|John McCarthy]] (original)<br>[[Ron Rivest]] (internet draft) | [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]], [[Netstring]]s | {{partial|Largely ''de facto''}} | [http://people.csail.mit.edu/rivest/Sexp.txt "S-Expressions"] [[Internet Draft]] | {{yes}}, ''canonical representation'' | {{yes}}, ''advanced transport representation'' | {{no}} | {{no}} | | {{n/a}} |- | [[Smile (data interchange format)|Smile]] | Tatu Saloranta | [[JSON]] | {{no}} | [https://github.com/FasterXML/smile-format-specification Smile Format Specification] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{partial}}<br>([http://json-schema.org/ JSON Schema Proposal], other JSON schemas/IDLs) | {{partial}}<br>(via JSON APIs implemented with Smile backend, on Jackson, Python) | {{n/a}} |- | [[SOAP]] | [[W3C]] | [[XML]] | {{yes}} | {{nobr|[[W3C Recommendation]]s:}}<br>[https://www.w3.org/TR/2000/NOTE-SOAP-20000508/ SOAP/1.1]<br>[https://www.w3.org/TR/soap12/ SOAP/1.2] | {{partial}}<br>({{nobr|[[Efficient XML Interchange]]}}, {{nobr|[[Binary XML]]}}, {{nobr|[[Fast Infoset]]}}, [[Message Transmission Optimization Mechanism|MTOM]], {{nobr|[[XSD]] base64 data}}) | {{yes}} | {{yes|Built-in id/ref, [[XPointer]], [[XPath]]}} | {{yes|[[WSDL]], [[XML schema]]}} | {{yes|[[Document Object Model|DOM]], [[Simple API for XML|SAX]], [[XQuery]], [[XPath]]}} | {{n/a}} |- | {{nobr|[[SDXF|Structured Data eXchange Format]]s}} | [[Max Wildgrube]] | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | RFC 3072 | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | | {{n/a}} |- | [[Apache Thrift]] | [[Facebook]] (creator)<br>[[Apache Software Foundation|Apache]] (maintainer) | {{n/a}} | {{no}} | [http://thrift.apache.org/static/files/thrift-20070401.pdf Original whitepaper] | {{yes}} | {{partial}}{{ref|thrifttxt|c}} | {{no}} | {{yes|Built-in}} | C++, Java, Python, PHP, Ruby, Erlang, Perl, Haskell, C#, Cocoa, JavaScript, Node.js, Smalltalk, OCaml, Delphi and other languages<ref>[https://thrift.apache.org/ Apache Thrift]</ref> | {{n/a}} |- | [[UBJSON]] | The Buzz Media, LLC | [[JSON]], [[BSON]] | {{no}} | [http://ubjson.org/ ubjson.org] | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[External Data Representation|eXternal Data Representation]] (XDR) | [[Sun Microsystems]] (creator)<br>[[IETF]] (maintainer) | {{n/a}} | {{yes}} | [https://tools.ietf.org/html/std67 STD 67]/RFC 4506 | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[XML]] | [[W3C]] | [[SGML]] | {{yes}} | {{nobr|[[W3C Recommendation]]s:}}<br>[http://www.w3.org/TR/2008/REC-xml-20081126/ 1.0 (Fifth Edition)]<br>[http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/REC-xml11-20060816/ 1.1 (Second Edition)] | {{partial}}<br>({{nobr|[[Efficient XML Interchange]]}}, {{nobr|[[Binary XML]]}}, {{nobr|[[Fast Infoset]]}}, {{nobr|[[XSD]] base64 data}}) | {{yes}} | {{yes|[[XPointer]], [[XPath]]}} | {{yes|[[XML schema]], [[RELAX NG]]}} | {{yes|[[Document Object Model|DOM]], [[Simple API for XML|SAX]], [[XQuery]], [[XPath]]}} | {{n/a}} |- | [[XML-RPC]] | [[Dave Winer]]<ref name="xmlrpc-hist">{{cite web|url=https://www.xml.com/pub/a/ws/2001/04/04/soap.html|title=A Brief History of SOAP|website=www.xml.com}}</ref> | [[XML]] | {{no}} | [http://xmlrpc.com/spec.md XML-RPC Specification] | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} | {{no}} |- | [[YAML]] | Clark Evans,<br>Ingy döt Net,<br>and Oren Ben-Kiki | [[C (programming language)|C]], [[Java (programming language)|Java]], [[Perl]], [[Python (programming language)|Python]], [[Ruby (programming language)|Ruby]], [[Email]], [[HTML]], [[MIME]], [[URI]], [[XML]], [[Simple API for XML|SAX]], [[SOAP]], [[JSON]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html#id2708710|title=YAML Ain't Markup Language (YAML) Version 1.2|first1=Oren |last1=Ben-Kiki |first2=Clark |last2=Evans |first3=Ingy döt |last3=Net|date=2009-10-01|work=The Official YAML Web Site|access-date=2012-02-10}}</ref> | {{no}} | [http://www.yaml.org/spec/1.2/spec.html Version 1.2] | {{no}} | {{yes}} | {{yes}} | {{partial}}<br>([http://www.kuwata-lab.com/kwalify/ Kwalify], [http://rjbs.manxome.org/rx/ Rx], built-in language type-defs) | {{no}} | {{no}} |- ! Name ! Creator-maintainer ! Based on ! Standardized? ! [[Specification]] ! [[Binary format|Binary]]? ! [[Human-readable]]? ! Supports [[reference (computer science)|reference]]s?{{ref|stdrefs|e}} ! Schema-[[interface description language|IDL]]? ! Standard [[API]]s ! Supports [[zero-copy]] operations |} {{ordered list | list-style-type=lower-alpha | {{note|plbin}}The current default format is binary. | {{note|pltxt}}The "classic" format is plain text, and an XML format is also supported. | {{note|thrifttxt}}Theoretically possible due to abstraction, but no implementation is included. | {{note|pbtextformat}}The primary format is binary, but text and JSON formats are available.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/reference/cpp/google.protobuf.text_format|title=text_format.h - Protocol Buffers|website=Google Developers}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/docs/proto3#json|title=JSON Mapping - Protocol Buffers|website=Google Developers}}</ref> | {{note|stdrefs}}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 [[Interface description language|IDL]] file, but no more. Excludes custom, non-standardized referencing techniques. | {{note|asn1refs}}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 [[Object identifier|OIDs]], 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. | {{note|avrojson}}The primary format is binary, a json encoder is available.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://avro.apache.org/docs/1.9.2/spec.html#json_encoding|title=Avro Json Format}}</ref> | {{note|capnptextformat}}The primary format is binary, but a text format is available. }} ==Syntax comparison of human-readable formats== {| class="wikitable" |- ! Format ! [[Nullable type|Null]] ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] true ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] false ! [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] ! [[Floating-point]] ! [[String (computer science)|String]] ! [[Array data type|Array]] ! [[Associative array]]/[[Object (computer science)|Object]] |- | [[XML Encoding Rules|ASN.1]]<br>(XML Encoding Rules) | {{nobr|<code><foo /></code>}} | <code><foo>true</foo></code> | <code><foo>false</foo></code> | <code><foo>685230</foo></code> | <code><foo>6.8523015e+5</foo></code> | {{nobr|<code><foo>A to Z</foo></code>}} | <syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><SeqOfUnrelatedDatatypes> <isMarried>true</isMarried> <hobby /> <velocity>-42.1e7</velocity> <bookname>A to Z</bookname> <bookname>We said, "no".</bookname> </SeqOfUnrelatedDatatypes></syntaxhighlight> | An object (the key is a field name): <syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><person> <isMarried>true</isMarried> <hobby /> <height>1.85</height> <name>Bob Peterson</name> </person></syntaxhighlight> A data mapping (the key is a data value): <syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><competition> <measurement> <name>John</name> <height>3.14</height> </measurement> <measurement> <name>Jane</name> <height>2.718</height> </measurement> </competition></syntaxhighlight> {{ref|guess|a}} |- | [[Comma-separated values|CSV]]{{ref|csvguess|b}} | <code>null</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br>(or an empty element in the row){{ref|guess|a}} | <code>1</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br><code>true</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>0</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br><code>false</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>685230</code><br><code>-685230</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>6.8523015e+5</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | {{nobr|<code>A to Z</code>}}<br><code>{{nobr|"We said, ""no""."}}</code> | <code>true,,-42.1e7,"A to Z"</code> | <pre>42,1 A to Z,1,2,3</pre> |- ! Format ! [[Nullable type|Null]] ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] true ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] false ! [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] ! [[Floating-point]] ! [[String (computer science)|String]] ! [[Array data type|Array]] ! [[Associative array]]/[[Object (computer science)|Object]] |- | [[Ion (Serialization format)|Ion]] | <code>null</code><br /> <code>null.null</code><br /> <code>null.bool</code><br /> <code>null.int</code><br /> <code>null.float</code><br /> <code>null.decimal</code><br /> <code>null.timestamp</code><br /> <code>null.string</code><br /> <code>null.symbol</code><br /> <code>null.blob</code><br /> <code>null.clob</code><br /> <code>null.struct</code><br /> <code>null.list</code><br /> <code>null.sexp</code> | <code>true</code> | <code>false</code> | <code>685230</code><br><code>-685230</code><br /><code>0xA74AE</code><br /><code>0b111010010101110</code> | <code>6.8523015e5</code> | <code>"A to Z"</code><br><br><code><nowiki>'''</nowiki><br>A <br>to <br>Z<br><nowiki>'''</nowiki></code> |<syntaxhighlight lang="json"> [true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z"] </syntaxhighlight> |<syntaxhighlight lang="javascript"> {'42': true, 'A to Z': [1, 2, 3]} </syntaxhighlight> |- | [[Netstring]]s{{ref|netguess|c}} | <code>0:,</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br><code>4:null,</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>1:1,</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br><code>4:true,</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>1:0,</code>{{ref|guess|a}}<br><code>5:false,</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>6:685230,</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>9:6.8523e+5,</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | {{nobr|<code>6:A to Z,</code>}} | <code>29:4:true,0:,7:-42.1e7,6:A to Z,,</code> | {{nobr|<code>41:9:2:42,1:1,,25:6:A to Z,12:1:1,1:2,1:3,,,,</code>}}{{ref|guess|a}} |- | [[JSON]] | <code>null</code> | <code>true</code> | <code>false</code> | <code>685230</code><br><code>-685230</code> | <code>6.8523015e+5</code> | {{nobr|<code>"A to Z"</code>}} |<syntaxhighlight lang="json"> [true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z"] </syntaxhighlight> |<syntaxhighlight lang="json"> {"42": true, "A to Z": [1, 2, 3]} </syntaxhighlight> |- | [[OGDL]]{{Verify source|date=September 2009}} | <code>null</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>true</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>false</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>685230</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>6.8523015e+5</code>{{ref|guess|a}} | <code>"A to Z"</code><br><code>'A to Z'</code><br><code>NoSpaces</code> | <pre>true null -42.1e7 "A to Z"</pre> <code>(true, null, -42.1e7, "A to Z")</code> |<pre>42 true "A to Z" 1 2 3</pre> <pre>42 true "A to Z", (1, 2, 3)</pre> |- ! Format ! [[Nullable type|Null]] ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] true ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] false ! [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] ! [[Floating-point]] ! [[String (computer science)|String]] ! [[Array data type|Array]] ! [[Associative array]]/[[Object (computer science)|Object]] |- | [[OpenDDL]] | <code>ref {null}</code> | <code>bool {true}</code> | <code>bool {false}</code> | <code>int32 {685230}</code><br/><code>int32 {0x74AE}</code><br/><code>int32 {0b111010010101110}</code> | <code>float {6.8523015e+5}</code> | <code>string {"A to Z"}</code> | Homogeneous array: <pre>int32 {1, 2, 3, 4, 5}</pre> Heterogeneous array: <pre>array { bool {true} ref {null} float {-42.1e7} string {"A to Z"} }</pre> | <pre>dict { value (key = "42") {bool {true}} value (key = "A to Z") {int32 {1, 2, 3}} }</pre> |- |[[PHP serialization format]] |<code>N;</code> |<code>b:1;</code> |<code>b:0;</code> |<code>i:685230;</code><br><code>i:-685230;</code> |<code>d:685230.15;</code>{{ref|phpfloat|d}}<br><code>d:INF;</code><br><code>d:-INF;</code><br><code>d:NAN;</code> |<code>s:6:"A to Z";</code> |<code>a:4:{i:0;b:1;i:1;N;i:2;d:-421000000;i:3;s:6:"A to Z";}</code> |Associative array:<br><code>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;}}</code><br>Object:<br><code>O:8:"stdClass":2:{s:4:"John";d:3.14;s:4:"Jane";d:2.718;}</code>{{ref|phpfloat|d}} |- | [[Pickle (Python)]] | <code>N.</code> | <code>I01\n.</code> | <code>I00\n.</code> | <code>I685230\n.</code> | <code>F685230.15\n.</code> | <code>S'A to Z'\n.</code> | <code>(lI01\na(laF-421000000.0\naS'A to Z'\na.</code> | <code>(dI42\nI01\nsS'A to Z'\n(lI1\naI2\naI3\nas.</code> |- | [[Property list]]<br>(plain text format)<ref name="gnustep">{{cite web|url=http://www.gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html|title=NSPropertyListSerialization class documentation|website=www.gnustep.org|access-date=2009-10-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110519164921/http://gnustep.org/resources/documentation/Developer/Base/Reference/NSPropertyList.html|archive-date=2011-05-19|url-status=dead}}</ref> | {{n/a}} | <code><*BY></code> | <code><*BN></code> | <code><*I685230></code> | <code><*R6.8523015e+5></code> | <code>"A to Z"</code> | <code>( <*BY>, <*R-42.1e7>, "A to Z" )</code> | <pre>{ "42" = <*BY>; "A to Z" = ( <*I1>, <*I2>, <*I3> ); }</pre> |- | [[Property list]]<br>(XML format)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://developer.apple.com/library/archive/|title=Documentation Archive|website=developer.apple.com}}</ref> | {{n/a}} | <code><true /></code> | <code><false /></code> | <code><integer>685230</integer></code> | <code><real>6.8523015e+5</real></code> | {{nobr|<code><string>A to Z</string></code>}} | <syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><array> <true /> <real>-42.1e7</real> <string>A to Z</string> </array></syntaxhighlight> | <syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><dict> <key>42</key> <true /> <key>A to Z</key> <array> <integer>1</integer> <integer>2</integer> <integer>3</integer> </array> </dict></syntaxhighlight> |- | [[Protocol Buffers]] | {{n/a}} | <code>true</code> | <code>false</code> | <code>685230</code><br><code>-685230</code> | <code>20.0855369</code> | <code>{{nobr|"A to Z"}}<br>{{nobr|"sdfff2 \000\001\002\377\376\375"}}<br>{{nobr|"q\tqq<>q2&\001\377"}}</code> | <pre>field1: "value1" field1: "value2" field1: "value3 </pre> <pre>anotherfield { foo: 123 bar: 456 } anotherfield { foo: 222 bar: 333 } </pre> | <syntaxhighlight lang="protobuf"> thing1: "blahblah" thing2: 18923743 thing3: -44 thing4 { submessage_field1: "foo" submessage_field2: false } enumeratedThing: SomeEnumeratedValue thing5: 123.456 [extensionFieldFoo]: "etc" [extensionFieldThatIsAnEnum]: EnumValue </syntaxhighlight> |- ! Format ! [[Nullable type|Null]] ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] true ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]] false ! [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] ! [[Floating-point]] ! [[String (computer science)|String]] ! [[Array data type|Array]] ! [[Associative array]]/[[Object (computer science)|Object]] |- | [[S-expression]]s | <code>NIL</code><br><code>nil</code> | <code>T</code><br><code>#t</code>{{ref|lispstd|f}}<br><code>true</code> | <code>NIL</code><br><code>#f</code>{{ref|lispstd|f}}<br><code>false</code> | <code>685230</code> | <code>6.8523015e+5</code> | <code>abc</code><br><code>"abc"</code><br><code>#616263#</code><br><code>3:abc</code><br><code>{MzphYmM=}</code><br><code><nowiki>|YWJj|</nowiki></code> | <code>(T NIL -42.1e7 "A to Z")</code> | <code>((42 T) ("A to Z" (1 2 3)))</code> |- | [[YAML]] | <code>~</code><br><code>null</code><br><code>Null</code><br><code>NULL</code><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yaml.org/type/null.html |title=Null Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1 |work=YAML.org |date=2005-01-18 |author1=Oren Ben-Kiki|author2=Clark Evans|author3=Brian Ingerson |access-date=2009-09-12}}</ref> | <code>y</code><br><code>Y</code><br><code>yes</code><br><code>Yes</code><br><code>YES</code><br><code>on</code><br><code>On</code><br><code>ON</code><br><code>true</code><br><code>True</code><br><code>TRUE</code><ref name="yamlbool">{{cite web|url=http://yaml.org/type/bool.html |title=Boolean Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1 |publisher=Clark C. Evans |author1=Oren Ben-Kiki|author2=Clark Evans|author3=Brian Ingerson |work=YAML.org |date=2005-01-18 |access-date=2009-09-12}}</ref> | <code>n</code><br><code>N</code><br><code>no</code><br><code>No</code><br><code>NO</code><br><code>off</code><br><code>Off</code><br><code>OFF</code><br><code>false</code><br><code>False</code><br><code>FALSE</code><ref name="yamlbool"/> | <code>685230</code><br><code>+685_230</code><br><code>-685230</code><br><code>02472256</code><br><code>0x_0A_74_AE</code><br><code>0b1010_0111_0100_1010_1110</code><br><code>190:20:30</code><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yaml.org/type/int.html |title=Integer Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1 |publisher=Clark C. Evans |author1=Oren Ben-Kiki|author2=Clark Evans|author3=Brian Ingerson |work=YAML.org |date=2005-02-11 |access-date=2009-09-12}}</ref> |<code>6.8523015e+5</code><br><code>685.230_15e+03</code><br><code>685_230.15</code><br><code>190:20:30.15</code><br><code>.inf</code><br><code>-.inf</code><br><code>.Inf</code><br><code>.INF</code><br><code>.NaN</code><br><code>.nan</code><br><code>.NAN</code><ref>{{cite web|url=http://yaml.org/type/float.html |title=Floating-Point Language-Independent Type for YAML Version 1.1 |publisher=Clark C. Evans |author1=Oren Ben-Kiki|author2=Clark Evans|author3=Brian Ingerson |work=YAML.org |date=2005-01-18 |access-date=2009-09-12}}</ref> | <code>A to Z</code><br><code>"A to Z"</code><br><code>'A to Z'</code> | <code>[y, ~, -42.1e7, "A to Z"]</code> <pre>- y - - -42.1e7 - A to Z</pre> | <code>{"John":3.14, "Jane":2.718}</code> <pre>42: y A to Z: [1, 2, 3]</pre> |- | [[XML]]{{ref|xmlguess|e}} and [[SOAP]] | {{nobr|<code><null /></code>{{ref|guess|a}}}} | <code>true</code> | <code>false</code> | <code>685230</code> | <code>6.8523015e+5</code> | {{nobr|<code>A to Z</code>}} |<syntaxhighlight lang="xml"> <item>true</item> <item xsi:nil="true"/> <item>-42.1e7</item> <item>A to Z<item> </syntaxhighlight> |<syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><map> <entry key="42">true</entry> <entry key="A to Z"> <item val="1"/> <item val="2"/> <item val="3"/> </entry> </map></syntaxhighlight> |- | [[XML-RPC]] | | <code><value><boolean>1</boolean></value></code> | <code><value><boolean>0</boolean></value></code> | <code><value><int>685230</int></value></code> | <code><value><double>6.8523015e+5</double></value></code> | <code><value><string>A to Z</string></value></code> |<syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><value><array> <data> <value><boolean>1</boolean></value> <value><double>-42.1e7</double></value> <value><string>A to Z</string></value> </data> </array></value></syntaxhighlight> |<syntaxhighlight lang="xml"><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></syntaxhighlight> |} {{ordered list | list-style-type=lower-alpha | {{note|guess}}Omitted XML elements are commonly decoded by [[XML data binding]] tools as NULLs. Shown here is another possible encoding; [[XML schema]] does not define an encoding for this datatype. | {{note|csvguess}}The RFC CSV specification only deals with delimiters, newlines, and quote characters; it does not directly deal with serializing programming [[data structure]]s. | {{note|netguess}}The [[netstring]]s specification only deals with nested [[byte string]]s; anything else is outside the scope of the specification. | {{note|phpfloat}}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 {{val|3.140000000000000124344978758017532527446746826171875}}. | {{note|xmlguess}}[[XML data binding]]s and [[SOAP]] serialization tools provide type-safe XML serialization of programming [[data structure]]s into XML. Shown are XML values that can be placed in XML elements and attributes. | {{note|lispstd}}This syntax is not compatible with the Internet-Draft, but is used by some dialects of [[Lisp (programming language)|Lisp]]. }} ==Comparison of binary formats== <!--This table is meant to describe how the various datatypes are encoded in binary in the various formats.--> {| class="wikitable" |- style="vertical-align:bottom;" ! Format ! [[Nullable type|Null]] ! [[Boolean data type|Boolean]]s ! [[Integer (computer science)|Integer]] ! [[Floating-point]] ! [[String (computer science)|String]] ! [[Array data type|Array]] ! [[Associative array]]/[[object (computer science)|object]] |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[ASN.1]]<br>([[Basic Encoding Rules|BER]], [[Packed Encoding Rules|PER]] or [[Octet encoding rules|OER]] encoding) | NULL type | BOOLEAN: {{ubli | BER: as 1 byte in binary form; | PER: as 1 bit; | OER: as 1 byte }} | INTEGER: {{ubli | BER: variable-length big-endian binary representation (up to 2{{sup|2{{sup|1024}}}} bits); | PER Unaligned: a fixed number of bits if the integer type has a finite range; a variable number of bits otherwise; | 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; | 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 }} | REAL:{{ubli | base-10 real values are represented as character strings in ISO 6093 format; | binary real values are represented in a binary format that includes the mantissa, the base (2, 8, or 16), and the exponent; | the special values NaN, -INF, +INF, and negative zero are also supported }} | Multiple valid types (VisibleString, PrintableString, GeneralString, UniversalString, UTF8String) | Data specifications SET OF (unordered) and SEQUENCE OF (guaranteed order) | User definable type |- style="vertical-align:top;" | Binn | <code>\x00</code> | {{ubli | True: <code>\x01</code> | False: <code>\x02</code> }} | [[Big-endian]] [[2's complement]] signed and unsigned 8/16/32/64 bits | {{ubli | [[Single-precision floating-point format|Singles]]: [[big-endian]] [[binary32]] | [[Double-precision floating-point format|Doubles]]: [[big-endian]] [[binary64]] }} | [[UTF-8]]-encoded, null-terminated, preceded by int8 or int32 string length in bytes | Typecode (1 byte) + 1–4 bytes size + 1–4 bytes items count + list items | Typecode (1 byte) + 1–4 bytes size + 1–4 bytes items count + key/value pairs |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[BSON]] | <code>\x0A</code><br>(1 byte) | True: <code>\x08\x01</code><br>False: <code>\x08\x00</code><br>(2 bytes) | int32: 32-bit [[little-endian]] [[2's complement]] or int64: 64-bit [[little-endian]] [[2's complement]] | [[Double-precision floating-point format|Double]]: [[little-endian]] [[binary64]] | [[UTF-8]]-encoded, preceded by int32-encoded string length in bytes | [[BSON]] embedded document with numeric keys | [[BSON]] embedded document |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[CBOR|Concise Binary Object Representation]] (CBOR) | <code>\xf6</code><br>(1 byte) | {{ubli | True: <code>\xf5</code> | False: <code>\xf4</code> }} (1 byte) | {{ubli | Small positive/negative <code>\x00</code>–<code>\x17</code> & <code>\x20</code>–<code>\x37</code> (1 byte) | 8-bit: positive <code>\x18</code>, negative <code>\x38</code> (+ 1 byte) | 16-bit: positive <code>\x19</code>, negative <code>\x39</code> (+ 2 bytes) | 32-bit: positive <code>\x1A</code>, negative <code>\x3A</code> (+ 4 bytes) | 64-bit: positive <code>\x1B</code>, negative <code>\x3B</code> (+ 8 bytes) | Negative x encoded as (−x − 1) }} | {{ubli | IEEE half/single/double <code>\xf9</code>–<code>\xfb</code> (+ 2–8 bytes) | Decimals and bigfloats (4+ bytes) encoded as <code>\xc4</code> tag + 2-item array of integer mantissa & exponent }} | {{ubli | Length and content (1–9 bytes overhead) | Bytestring <code>\x40</code>–<code>\x5f</code> | [[UTF-8]] <code>\x60</code>–<code>\x7f</code> | Indefinite partial strings <code>\x5f</code> and <code>\x7f</code> stitched together until <code>\xff</code>. }} | {{ubli | Length and items <code>\x80</code>–<code>\x9e</code> | Indefinite list <code>\x9f</code> terminated by <code>\xff</code> entry. }} | {{ubli | Length (in pairs) and items <code>\xa0</code>–<code>\xbe</code> | Indefinite map <code>\xbf</code> terminated by <code>\xff</code> key. }} |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Efficient XML Interchange|Efficient XML Interchange (EXI)]]{{efn |group=binary |Any XML based representation can be compressed, or generated as, using EXI {{ndash}} {{Cite web |title=Efficient XML Interchange (EXI) Format 1.0 (Second Edition) |url=https://www.w3.org/TR/2014/REC-exi-20140211/Overview.html}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Efficient Extensible Interchange |url=https://www.w3.org/XML/EXI/index.html}}</ref> {{ndash}} which is a "Schema Informed" (as opposed to schema-required, or schema-less) binary compression standard for XML.}}<br> (Unpreserved lexical values format) | xsi:nil is not allowed in binary context. | 1–2 bit integer interpreted as boolean. | 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.<br> Unsigned skips the boolean flag. | {{ubli | Float: integer mantissa and integer exponent. | Decimal: boolean sign, integer whole value, integer fractional. }} | Length prefixed integer-encoded Unicode. Integers may represent enumerations or string table entries instead. | Length prefixed set of items. | Not in protocol. |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[FlatBuffers]] | Encoded as absence of field in parent object | {{ubli | True: <code>\x01</code> | False: <code>\x00</code> }} (1 byte) | [[Little-endian]] [[2's complement]] signed and unsigned 8/16/32/64 bits | {{ubli | [[Single-precision floating-point format|Floats]]: [[little-endian]] [[binary32]] | [[Double-precision floating-point format|Doubles]]: [[little-endian]] [[binary64]] }} | [[UTF-8]]-encoded, preceded by 32-bit integer length of string in bytes | Vectors of any other type, preceded by 32-bit integer length of number of elements | Tables (schema defined types) or Vectors sorted by key (maps / dictionaries) |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Ion (serialization format)|Ion]]<ref>[http://amzn.github.io/ion-docs/docs/binary.html Ion Binary Encoding]</ref> | <code>\x0f</code>{{efn |group=binary |All basic Ion types have a null variant, as its 0xXf tag. Any tag beginning with 0x0X other than 0x0f defines ignored padding.}} | {{ubli | True: <code>\x11</code> | False: <code>\x10</code> }} | {{ubli | Positive <code>\x2x</code>, negative <code>\x3x</code> | Zero is always encoded in tag byte. | BigInts over 13 bytes (104 bits) have 1+ byte overhead for length }} | {{ubli | <code>\x44</code> (32-bit float) | <code>\x48</code> (64-bit float) | Zero is always encoded in tag byte. }} | {{ubli | [[UTF-8]]: <code>\x8x</code> | Other strings: <code>\x9x</code> | Arbitrary length and overhead }} | <code>\xbx</code> Arbitrary length and overhead. Length in octets. | {{ubli | Structs (numbered fields): <code>\xdx</code> | Annotations (named fields): <code>\xex</code> }} |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[MessagePack]] | <code>\xc0</code> | {{ubli | True: <code>\xc3</code> | False: <code>\xc2</code> }} | {{ubli | Single byte "fixnum" (values {{nowrap|−32 – 127}}) | ''or'' typecode (1 byte) + big-endian (u)int8/16/32/64 }} | Typecode (1 byte) + IEEE single/double | {{ubli | Typecode + up to 15 bytes | ''or'' typecode + length as uint8/16/32 + bytes; }} encoding is unspecified<ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/msgpack/msgpack|title=MessagePack is an extremely efficient object serialization library. It's like JSON, but very fast and small.: msgpack/msgpack|date=2 April 2019|via=GitHub}}</ref> | {{ubli | As "fixarray" (single-byte prefix + up to 15 array items) | ''or'' typecode (1 byte) + 2–4 bytes length + array items }} | {{ubli | As "fixmap" (single-byte prefix + up to 15 key-value pairs) | ''or'' typecode (1 byte) + 2–4 bytes length + key-value pairs }} |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Netstring]]s{{efn |group=binary |Interpretation of Netstrings is entirely application- or schema-dependent.}} | Not in protocol. | Not in protocol. | Not in protocol. | Length-encoded as an ASCII string + ':' + data + ','<br> Length counts only octets between ':' and ',' | Not in protocol. | Not in protocol. | Not in protocol. |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[OGDL]] Binary | | | | | | | |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Property list]]<br>(binary format) | | | | | | | |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Protocol Buffers]] | | | {{ubli | Variable encoding length signed 32-bit: varint encoding of "ZigZag"-encoded value <code>(n << 1) [[XOR]] (n >> 31)</code> | Variable encoding length signed 64-bit: varint encoding of "ZigZag"-encoded <code>(n << 1) XOR (n >> 63)</code> | Constant encoding length 32-bit: 32 bits in [[little-endian]] [[2's complement]] | Constant encoding length 64-bit: 64 bits in [[little-endian]] [[2's complement]] }} | {{ubli | [[Single-precision floating-point format|Floats]]: [[little-endian]] [[binary32]] | [[Double-precision floating-point format|Doubles]]: [[little-endian]] [[binary64]] }} | [[UTF-8]]-encoded, preceded by varint-encoded integer length of string in bytes | Repeated value with the same tag or, for varint-encoded integers only, values packed contiguously and prefixed by tag and total byte length | {{n/a}} |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Smile (data interchange format)|Smile]] | <code>\x21</code> | {{ubli | True: <code>\x23</code> | False: <code>\x22</code> }} | {{ubli | Single byte "small" (values {{nowrap|−16 – 15}} encoded as {{nowrap|<code>\xc0</code>–<code>\xdf</code>}}), | zigzag-encoded <code>varint</code>s (1–11 data bytes), or <code>BigInteger</code> }} | IEEE single/double, <code>BigDecimal</code> | Length-prefixed "short" Strings (up to 64 bytes), marker-terminated "long" Strings and (optional) back-references | Arbitrary-length heterogenous arrays with end-marker | Arbitrary-length key/value pairs with end-marker |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[SDXF|Structured Data eXchange Formats]] (SDXF) | | | Big-endian signed 24-bit or 32-bit integer | Big-endian IEEE double | Either [[UTF-8]] or ISO 8859-1 encoded | List of elements with identical ID and size, preceded by array header with int16 length | Chunks can contain other chunks to arbitrary depth. |- style="vertical-align:top;" | [[Thrift (protocol)|Thrift]] | | | | | | | |} {{notelist|group=binary}} ==See also== *[[Comparison of document-markup languages]] ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== *[https://www.w3.org/TR/NOTE-xml-ql/ XML-QL Proposal discussing XML benefits] *[https://www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/05/02/champion.html Daring to Do Less with XML] [[Category:Data serialization formats]] [[Category:Persistence]] [[Category:Computing comparisons|Data-serialization formats]]'