Yandex has open-sourced YaFF (Yet Another Fast Format), a zero-copy wire format for Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) that delivers near-struct read speeds. Released under the Apache 2.0 license, YaFF is currently available in C++ as version 0.1.0. By eliminating unnecessary data copying during deserialization, YaFF significantly reduces latency and memory overhead, making it ideal for high-performance applications in 2026 where every microsecond counts—such as real-time data pipelines, edge computing, and large-scale distributed systems.
TLDR
- YaFF is an open-source zero-copy wire format for Protobuf, developed and released by Yandex under the Apache 2.0 license. It is currently available in C++ as v0.1.0.
- The .proto file remains the single source of truth; only the serialization and deserialization layers are replaced. This ensures backward compatibility and minimal migration effort for existing Protobuf users.
- Read performance approaches that of native C structs, thanks to zero-copy techniques that avoid memory allocation and copying during deserialization. This is a critical advantage in 2026 for latency-sensitive and resource-constrained environments.
- YaFF is designed for scenarios requiring high throughput and low latency, such as network communication, storage systems, and real-time analytics. It complements Protobuf's schema evolution features without sacrificing speed.
For more details and access to the code, visit the official repository on GitHub.
via MarkTechPost