Protocol Buffers — Efficient Binary Serialization

Overview

Protocol Buffers describe data in .proto files; a compiler generates classes for your language, and messages are encoded in a compact binary format identified by field numbers, not names. Payloads are usually much smaller than JSON and parsing is faster, and the schema is a checked contract between services. The same files define gRPC services. Current releases at the time of writing: protoc/protobuf v36.2 (September 2026), buf 1.73, @bufbuild/protobuf and protoc-gen-es 2.16. Schemas start with syntax = "proto3"; (still fully supported) or the newer edition = "2023"; / "2024", which replaces syntax and makes behaviours such as field presence a per-file or per-field feature.

Instructions

1. Install the tools

# Compiler (check the version: package managers can be old)
sudo apt install -y protobuf-compiler     # Debian/Ubuntu
brew install protobuf                     # macOS
winget install protobuf                   # Windows
protoc --version                          # should be 33 or newer