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Efficient Data with Protobuf

Name: Efficient Data with Protobuf
Author: protocolbuffers

Serialize data with Protocol Buffers. For founders needing robust data exchange.

71,459 stars16,180 forksC++Quality 8/10Updated 7/6/2026100% free · open source

What it does

Protocol Buffers is a language-neutral, platform-neutral, extensible way to serialize structured data, allowing for efficient and robust data exchange between systems.

Install / run

git clone https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf.git

When to use it

•When building a microservices architecture and needing a common data format for communication between services
•When working with large amounts of structured data and needing to optimize storage and transfer efficiency
•When integrating with third-party systems that support Protocol Buffers

Quick start

1Navigate to the cloned repository and run './autogen.sh' to generate build files
2Run './configure' to configure the build process
3Run 'make' to build the Protocol Buffers compiler
4Use the generated 'protoc' compiler to compile a .proto file, for example: 'protoc --cpp_out=. example.proto'
5View the generated code in the output directory, for example: 'example.pb.h' and 'example.pb.cc'

Ready-to-paste prompt

protoc --cpp_out=. --proto_path=. example.proto

Heads up: The 'protoc' compiler requires a .proto file as input, which must be defined in Protocol Buffers syntax, for example: 'syntax = "proto3"; message Person { string name = 1; int32 age = 2; }'

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