Google and data within them may persist for some time, maintaining backwardsĬompatibility is crucial. writeTo ( output ) īecause protocol buffers are used extensively across all manner of services at build () output = new FileOutputStream ( args ) john. Protocol buffer messages and services are described byĮngineer-authored. They are usedĮxtensively in inter-server communications as well as for archival storage ofĭata on disk. Protocol buffers are the most commonly-used data format at Google. Protocol buffers can beĮxtended with new information without invalidating existing data or requiring The format is suitable for bothĮphemeral network traffic and long-term data storage.

Protocol buffers provide a serialization format for packets of typed, structuredĭata that are up to a few megabytes in size. That is written to a file (or sent across a network connection). proto files), the code that the proto compiler generates to interface withĭata, language-specific runtime libraries, and the serialization format for data Protocol buffers are a combination of the definition language (created in Structured once, then you can use special generated source code to easily writeĪnd read your structured data to and from a variety of data streams and using a It’s like JSON, except it’s smaller and faster, and it Mechanism for serializing structured data in a forward-compatible andīackward-compatible way. Protocol buffers provide a language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible Protocol Buffers are a language-neutral, platform-neutral extensible mechanism for serializing structured data.

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