Apache Avro

Apache Avro

Developer(s)	Apache Software Foundation
Stable release	1.7.7 / July 23, 2014 (2014-07-23)
Development status	Active
Type	remote procedure call framework
License	Apache License 2.0
Website	http://avro.apache.org/

Avro is a remote procedure call and data serialization framework developed within Apache's Hadoop project. It uses JSON for defining data types and protocols, and serializes data in a compact binary format. Its primary use is in Apache Hadoop, where it can provide both a serialization format for persistent data, and a wire format for communication between Hadoop nodes, and from client programs to the Hadoop services.

It is similar to Thrift, but does not require running a code-generation program when a schema changes (unless desired for statically-typed languages).

Languages with APIs

Though theoretically any language could use Avro, the following languages have APIs written for them:

• Java
• Scala
• C#
• C
• C++
• Python
• Ruby

Avro IDL

In addition to supporting JSON for type and protocol definitions, Avro includes experimental support for an alternative interface description language (IDL) syntax known as Avro IDL. Previously known as GenAvro, this format is designed to ease adoption by users familiar with more traditional IDLs and programming languages, with a syntax similar to C/C++, Protocol Buffers and others.

See also

• Comparison of data serialization formats
• Apache Thrift
• Google's Protocol Buffers
• Cisco's Etch
• ZeroC's ICE
• Microsoft's "M"
• MessagePack