Smile Format
Smile is the binary JSON-compatible format designed for Jackson, shrinking JSON payloads with a shared string table and compact tags.
Purpose
It provides an efficient binary representation of JSON semantics in the Java/JVM ecosystem, speeding up serialization and reducing size.
Mechanism
Values use a 1-byte type tag plus Varint lengths and compact value encoding; a shared string table (back-references) avoids storing repeated keys and values. It is fully JSON-semantics compatible.
Use cases
- High-speed Java serialization
- Binary JSON caching
- Data exchange between JVMs