Serializing a jagged byte array efficiently

Question

I have a jagged array `DataMember` that returns `byte[800][10000][1]` which translates to ~8MB of data. When serialized using `DataContractSerializer` it turns into a file size 120MB for Binary and 300MB for Text. Looking at the text serialization, it indicates that it puts a tag around every byte value to indicate that its a base64 encoded value etc., which might be the reason for this size enlargement. What is an efficient way to serialize a large jagged blob using `DataContractSerializer` (or any other serializer for that matter) snippet XML output when serialized using Text: ``` CQ==Bw==BQ==AA==AQ==AA==BA==Bg==CA==AA==…

Accepted Answer

You could try using a `BinaryFormatter` if you don't care about interoperability with other systems but only about performance:

```
byte[800][10000][1] foo = ... fetch it
BinaryFormatter formatter = new BinaryFormatter();
using (var stream = File.OpenWrite("foobar.dat"))
{
    formatter.Serialize(stream, foo);
}
```

Serializing a jagged byte array efficiently

Solution

Problem