Performance Tests of Serializations used by WCF Bindings

Question

I have the following object:

public partial class Game
{
    public bool Finished { get; set; }

    public Guid GameGUID { get; set; }

    public long GameID { get; set; }

    public bool GameSetup { get; set; }

    public Nullable<int> MaximumCardsInDeck { get; set; }

    public Player Player { get; set; }

    public Player Player1 { get; set; }

    public bool Player1Connected { get; set; }

    public bool Player1EnvironmentSetup { get; set; }

    public long Player1ID { get; set; }

    public int Player1Won { get; set; }

    public bool Player2Connected { get; set; }

    public bool Player2EnvironmentSetup { get; set; }

    public long Player2ID { get; set; }

    public int Player2Won { get; set; }

    public int Round { get; set; }

    public Nullable<int> RoundsToWin { get; set; }

    public bool Started { get; set; }

    public string StateXML { get; set; }

    public Nullable<DateTime> TimeEnded { get; set; }

    public Nullable<int> TimeLimitPerTurn { get; set; }

    public byte[] TimeStamp { get; set; }

    public Nullable<DateTime> TimeStarted { get; set; }    
}

This class gonna be filled with some test data.

I need the to compare the Performance of different Serializers used by the different forms of bindings for WCF Services:

• basicHttpBinding => SoapFormatter (TextFormatter?)
• binaryBinding => BinaryFormatter
• XMLFormatter

What i need to do in detail is:

• Get to now the size of the Object being serialized
• Get to now the size after serizlization
• Time to serialize
• Time to deserialize

I already tried some stuff, but i am struggling a bit. Maybe there is already some simple code for this kind of measurement.

Answer 1

OK; I'll bite... here's some raw serializer metrics (emph: you may need to consider base-64/MTOM to get overall bandwidth requirements, plus whatever fixed overheads (both space and CPU) that WCF adds), however; results first:

BinaryFormatter
Length: 1314
Serialize: 6746
Deserialize: 6268

XmlSerializer
Length: 1049
Serialize: 3282
Deserialize: 5132

DataContractSerializer
Length: 911
Serialize: 1411
Deserialize: 4380

NetDataContractSerializer
Length: 1139
Serialize: 2014
Deserialize: 5645

JavaScriptSerializer
Length: 528
Serialize: 12050
Deserialize: 30558

(protobuf-net v2)
Length: 112
Serialize: 217
Deserialize: 250

(so I conclude protobuf-net v2 the winner...)

Numbers updated with .NET 4.5 and current library builds, on a newer machine:

BinaryFormatter
Length: 1313
Serialize: 2786
Deserialize: 2407

XmlSerializer
Length: 1049
Serialize: 1265
Deserialize: 2165

DataContractSerializer
Length: 911
Serialize: 574
Deserialize: 2011

NetDataContractSerializer
Length: 1138
Serialize: 850
Deserialize: 2535

JavaScriptSerializer
Length: 528
Serialize: 8660
Deserialize: 8468

(protobuf-net v2)
Length: 112
Serialize: 78
Deserialize: 134

with test rig (compiled with optimizations, run at command line):

(and note I had to invent the Player class and some sample data):

using System;
using System.Diagnostics;
using System.IO;
using System.Runtime.Serialization;
using System.Runtime.Serialization.Formatters.Binary;
using System.Text;
using System.Web.Script.Serialization;
using System.Xml.Serialization;
using ProtoBuf.Meta;


static class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        var orig = new Game {
             Finished = true, GameGUID = Guid.NewGuid(), GameID = 12345, GameSetup = false, MaximumCardsInDeck = 20,
             Player = new Player { Name = "Fred"}, Player1 = new Player { Name = "Barney"}, Player1Connected = true,
             Player1EnvironmentSetup = true, Player1ID = 12345, Player1Won = 3, Player2Connected = true, Player2EnvironmentSetup = true,
             Player2ID = 23456, Player2Won = 0, Round = 4, RoundsToWin = 5, Started = true, StateXML = "not really xml",
             TimeEnded = null, TimeLimitPerTurn = 500, TimeStamp = new byte[] {1,2,3,4,5,6}, TimeStarted = DateTime.Today};
        const int LOOP = 50000;

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            var ser = new BinaryFormatter();
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(ser.GetType().Name);
            ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + ms.Length);
            ms.Position = 0;
            ser.Deserialize(ms);

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ms.SetLength(0);
                ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ser.Deserialize(ms);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            var ser = new XmlSerializer(typeof(Game));
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(ser.GetType().Name);
            ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + ms.Length);
            ms.Position = 0;
            ser.Deserialize(ms);

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ms.SetLength(0);
                ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ser.Deserialize(ms);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            var ser = new DataContractSerializer(typeof(Game));
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(ser.GetType().Name);
            ser.WriteObject(ms, orig);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + ms.Length);
            ms.Position = 0;
            ser.ReadObject(ms);

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ms.SetLength(0);
                ser.WriteObject(ms, orig);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ser.ReadObject(ms);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            var ser = new NetDataContractSerializer();
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(ser.GetType().Name);
            ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + ms.Length);
            ms.Position = 0;
            ser.Deserialize(ms);

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ms.SetLength(0);
                ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ser.Deserialize(ms);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        {
            var sb = new StringBuilder();
            var ser = new JavaScriptSerializer();
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine(ser.GetType().Name);
            ser.Serialize(orig, sb);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + sb.Length);
            ser.Deserialize(sb.ToString(), typeof(Game));

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                sb.Length = 0;
                ser.Serialize(orig, sb);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            string s = sb.ToString();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ser.Deserialize(s, typeof(Game));
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        GC.Collect(GC.MaxGeneration, GCCollectionMode.Forced);
        GC.WaitForPendingFinalizers();
        using (var ms = new MemoryStream())
        {
            var ser = CreateProto();
            Console.WriteLine();
            Console.WriteLine("(protobuf-net v2)");
            ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            Console.WriteLine("Length: " + ms.Length);
            ms.Position = 0;
            ser.Deserialize(ms, null, typeof(Game));

            var watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ms.SetLength(0);
                ser.Serialize(ms, orig);
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Serialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
            watch = Stopwatch.StartNew();
            for (int i = 0; i < LOOP; i++)
            {
                ms.Position = 0;
                ser.Deserialize(ms, null, typeof(Game));
            }
            watch.Stop();
            Console.WriteLine("Deserialize: " + watch.ElapsedMilliseconds);
        }

        Console.WriteLine();
        Console.WriteLine("All done; any key to exit");
        Console.ReadKey();
    }
    static TypeModel CreateProto()
    {
        var meta = TypeModel.Create();
        meta.Add(typeof(Game), false).Add(Array.ConvertAll(typeof(Game).GetProperties(),prop=>prop.Name));
        meta.Add(typeof(Player), false).Add(Array.ConvertAll(typeof(Player).GetProperties(),prop=>prop.Name));
        return meta.Compile();
    }
}

[Serializable, DataContract]
public partial class Game
{
    [DataMember]
    public bool Finished { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Guid GameGUID { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public long GameID { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool GameSetup { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Nullable<int> MaximumCardsInDeck { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Player Player { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Player Player1 { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool Player1Connected { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool Player1EnvironmentSetup { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public long Player1ID { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public int Player1Won { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool Player2Connected { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool Player2EnvironmentSetup { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public long Player2ID { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public int Player2Won { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public int Round { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Nullable<int> RoundsToWin { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public bool Started { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public string StateXML { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Nullable<DateTime> TimeEnded { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Nullable<int> TimeLimitPerTurn { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public byte[] TimeStamp { get; set; }
    [DataMember]
    public Nullable<DateTime> TimeStarted { get; set; }
}
[Serializable, DataContract]
public class Player
{
    [DataMember]
    public string Name { get; set; }
}

Answer 2

I also have benchmarks graphs for different serializers in .NET that show @Marc Gravell's binary protobuf-net serializer as the clear winner. Although I maintain the fastest text serializers .NET which come closest to matching it and are also much faster than all the serializers that come in BCL in .NET.

These benchmarks are based on the Nortwind sample Database from Microsoft and show how much slower each serializer is compared to Protobuf-net's.

ProtoBuf.net(v1)                      1x
ServiceStack TypeSerializer           2.23x
ServiceStack JsonSerializer           2.58x
Microsoft DataContractSerializer      6.93x
NewtonSoft.Json                       7.83x
Microsoft BinaryFormatter             9.21x
Microsoft JsonDataContractSerializer  9.31x

The full benchmarks are available here

So if you prefer/need to use a fast text-serializer here are links to Service Stack's open source text serializers:

• JSON Serializer
• JSV Serializer

By the way the Microsoft's JavaScriptSerializer showed the worst performance and at times were 40x-100x slower than protobuf-nets. Took it out because they were slowing down my benchmarks :)