Yandex Open-Sources YaFF: A Zero-Copy Wire Format for Protobuf With Near-Struct Read Speed
TLDR YaFF is Yandex’s open-source zero-copy wire format for Protobuf — Apache 2.0, currently C++, v0.1.0. The .proto file stays the source of truth; only the physical memory layout changes. On Yandex’s benchmarks, the Flat Layout reads hot data ~3.8× faster than FlatBuffers, within 1.2× of a raw C++ struct. Four layouts — Fixed, Flat, Sparse, Dynamic — trade read speed for schema flexibility; Dynamic is the default. YaFF runs in its advertising recommendation system,
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YaFF is an open-source serialization library that provides a faster way to read data formatted as Protobuf messages without requiring a parsing step. It matters because parsing Protobuf can consume significant CPU resources in high-load systems, and YaFF offers zero-copy reads that approach the speed of raw data structures while maintaining Protobuf compatibility. Unlike alternative solutions, YaFF allows gradual adoption by converting data at module boundaries, meaning teams can introduce it into performance-critical code paths while leaving the rest of their system unchanged. The tool ships with multiple layout options that trade read speed for schema flexibility, with benchmarks showing the Flat Layout reads approximately 3.8 times faster than comparable alternatives.
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