Enhancing Data Serialization Efficiency in REST Services: Migrating from JSON to Protocol Buffers

Anas Shatnawi, Adem Bahri, Boubou Thiam Niang, Benoit Verhaeghe

2025

Abstract

Data serialization efficiency is crucial for optimizing web application performance. JSON is widely used due to its compatibility with REST services, but its text-based format often introduces performance limitations. As web applications grow more complex and distributed, the need for more efficient serialization methods becomes evident. Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) has demonstrated significant improvements in reducing payload size and enhancing serialization/deserialization speed compared to JSON. To improve the performance and optimize resource utilization of existing web applications, the JSON data serialization approach of their REST services should be migrated to Protobuf. Existing migration approaches emphasize manual processes, which can be time-consuming and error-prone. In this paper, we propose a semi-automated approach to migrating the data serialization of existing REST services from JSON to Protobuf. Our approach refactors existing REST codebases to use Protobuf. It is evaluated on two web applications. The results show a reduction in payload size by 60% to 80%, leading to an 80% improvement in response time, a 17% decrease in CPU utilization, and an 18% reduction in energy consumption, all with no additional memory overhead.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Shatnawi A., Bahri A., Niang B. and Verhaeghe B. (2025). Enhancing Data Serialization Efficiency in REST Services: Migrating from JSON to Protocol Buffers. In Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT; ISBN 978-989-758-757-3, SciTePress, pages 193-200. DOI: 10.5220/0013459500003964

in Bibtex Style

@conference{icsoft25,
author={Anas Shatnawi and Adem Bahri and Boubou Niang and Benoit Verhaeghe},
title={Enhancing Data Serialization Efficiency in REST Services: Migrating from JSON to Protocol Buffers},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT},
year={2025},
pages={193-200},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0013459500003964},
isbn={978-989-758-757-3},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF

JO - Proceedings of the 20th International Conference on Software Technologies - Volume 1: ICSOFT
TI - Enhancing Data Serialization Efficiency in REST Services: Migrating from JSON to Protocol Buffers
SN - 978-989-758-757-3
AU - Shatnawi A.
AU - Bahri A.
AU - Niang B.
AU - Verhaeghe B.
PY - 2025
SP - 193
EP - 200
DO - 10.5220/0013459500003964
PB - SciTePress