~/notes/protobuf

Protocol Buffers

Explains Protocol Buffers

Jul 15, 2025

A language-neutral, platform-independent, and extensible mechanism for serializing structured data.

It encodes data into a compact binary format, making it efficient for communication.

Like XML, Protobuf defines structured data in a more efficient way. A schema is defined and used by both the client and server to serialize and deserialize the data.

Protobuf also provides a way to extend the schema without breaking backward compatibility.

diagram
Receiver

Binary Message Buffer

Protobuf
Deserialization

Reconstructed Object

Sender

Application Object
e.g., Python, Java

Protobuf
Serialization

Binary Message Buffer

Transport Layer:
gRPC, TCP, File

Receiver

Binary Message Buffer

Protobuf
Deserialization

Reconstructed Object

Sender

Application Object
e.g., Python, Java

Protobuf
Serialization

Binary Message Buffer

Transport Layer:
gRPC, TCP, File

protobuf syntax

code
syntax = "proto3";

message Person {
  string name = 1;
  int32 id = 2;
  string email = 3;
}

Docs

Linked References

gRPC note
"...an extension of traditional rpc systems. Protocol Buffers: gRPC uses protocal buffers as its interface definition language Code Generation: The protocol buffer..."