Bitsery

Header only C++ binary serialization library. It is designed around the networking requirements for real-time data delivery, especially for games.

All cross-platform requirements are enforced at compile time, so serialized data do not store any meta-data information and is as small as possible.

bitsery is looking for your feedback on gitter

Features

• Cross-platform compatible.
• Optimized for speed and space.
• No code generation required: no IDL or metadata, just use your types directly.
• Runtime error checking on deserialization.
• Supports forward/backward compatibility for your types.
• 2-in-1 declarative control flow, same code for serialization and deserialization.
• Allows fine-grained bit-level serialization control.
• Easily extendable.
• Configurable endianess support.
• No macros.

Why to use bitsery

Look at the numbers and features list, and decide yourself. (benchmarked on Ubuntu with GCC 7.1)

	serialize	deserialize	data size	executable size
flatbuffers	1852 ms.	777 ms.	27252 bytes	74544 bytes
cereal	1069 ms.	1385 ms.	20208 bytes	72336 bytes
bitsery	808 ms.	737 ms.	14803 bytes	69784 bytes
bitsery fixed-size buffer	297 ms.	738 ms.	14803 bytes	69928 bytes
bitsery optimized serialization flow	686 ms.	997 ms.	6601 bytes	69320 bytes
bitsery optimized serialization flow + fixed-size buffer	446 ms.	996 ms.	6601 bytes	69464 bytes

If still not convinced read more in library motivation section.

Usage example

#include <bitsery/bitsery.h>

using namespace bitsery;

struct MyStruct {
    uint32_t i;
    char str[6];
    std::vector<float> fs;
};

template <typename S>
void serialize(S& s, MyStruct& o) {
    s.value4b(o.i);
    s.text1b(o.str);
    s.container4b(o.fs, 100);
};

int main() {
    std::vector<uint8_t> buffer;
    BufferWriter bw{buffer};
    Serializer ser{bw};

    MyStruct data{8941, "hello", {15.0f, -8.5f, 0.045f}};
    ser.object(data); // serializes data

    BufferReader br{bw.getWrittenRange()};
    Deserializer des{br};

    MyStruct res{};
    des.object(res); //deserializes data
}

For more details go directly to Quick start tutorial.

How to use it

This documentation comprises these parts:

• Tutorial - getting started.
• Reference section - all the details.

documentation is in progress, most parts are empty, but contributions are welcome.

Requirements

Works with C++11 compiler, no additional dependencies, include <bitsery/bitsery.h> and you're done.

Platforms

This library was tested on

• Windows: Visual Studio 2015, MinGW (GCC 5.2)
• Linux: GCC 5.4, GCC 6.2, Clang 3.9
• OS X Mavericks: AppleClang 8

License

bitsery is licensed under the MIT license.