Data Formats & Standards

Apache Avro is a schema-based binary serialization format developed as part of the Hadoop project. Schemas are defined in JSON and embedded in or sent alongside data. Avro is the dominant wire format for Apache Kafka and the Confluent Schema Registry, enabling schema evolution without breaking consumers.

Binary data format whose design goals include extremely small code size, compact message size, and extensibility without version negotiation. Used in IoT, FIDO2, WebAuthn, COSE, and CWT.

Comma-Separated Values is a plain-text tabular format where each row represents a record and each column is separated by a delimiter, typically a comma. Defined by RFC 4180, CSV is the universal interchange format for spreadsheets, databases, and data pipelines.

Lightweight, text-based data interchange format derived from JavaScript object syntax. Human-readable, language-independent, and the dominant format for REST APIs, configuration files, and data storage.

Efficient binary serialization format that encodes the same data model as JSON in a more compact binary form. Small integers encode in a single byte. Used in Redis, Fluentd, MessageBird, and high-performance APIs.

Google's language-neutral, platform-neutral mechanism for serializing structured data. Schemas defined in .proto files compile to language-specific code. Significantly smaller and faster than JSON for the same data.

YAML Ain't Markup Language is a human-readable data serialization format designed for configuration files and data exchange. YAML 1.2.2 (2021) is a strict superset of JSON. It is the primary configuration language for Kubernetes, GitHub Actions, Docker Compose, Ansible, and most modern DevOps tooling.