1# serde\_bytes [](https://github.com/serde-rs/bytes/actions?query=branch%3Amaster) [](https://crates.io/crates/serde_bytes) 2 3Wrapper types to enable optimized handling of `&[u8]` and `Vec<u8>`. 4 5```toml 6[dependencies] 7serde_bytes = "0.11" 8``` 9 10## Explanation 11 12Without specialization, Rust forces Serde to treat `&[u8]` just like any 13other slice and `Vec<u8>` just like any other vector. In reality this 14particular slice and vector can often be serialized and deserialized in a 15more efficient, compact representation in many formats. 16 17When working with such a format, you can opt into specialized handling of 18`&[u8]` by wrapping it in `serde_bytes::Bytes` and `Vec<u8>` by wrapping it 19in `serde_bytes::ByteBuf`. 20 21Additionally this crate supports the Serde `with` attribute to enable efficient 22handling of `&[u8]` and `Vec<u8>` in structs without needing a wrapper type. 23 24## Example 25 26```rust 27use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize}; 28 29#[derive(Deserialize, Serialize)] 30struct Efficient<'a> { 31 #[serde(with = "serde_bytes")] 32 bytes: &'a [u8], 33 34 #[serde(with = "serde_bytes")] 35 byte_buf: Vec<u8>, 36} 37``` 38 39<br> 40 41#### License 42 43<sup> 44Licensed under either of <a href="LICENSE-APACHE">Apache License, Version 452.0</a> or <a href="LICENSE-MIT">MIT license</a> at your option. 46</sup> 47 48<br> 49 50<sub> 51Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted 52for inclusion in this crate by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall 53be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions. 54</sub> 55
){kind=link}