WIRE-FORMAT

The binary format actually transmitted on the network.

Definition

Distinct from in-memory format (parser objects) and schema (abstract description). For EDIFACT, wire format = UTF-8 or ISO 8859-1 with UNA / UNB default separators. For JSON, it is text/json UTF-8. For Protobuf, it is binary varint. Important for performance tuning (gzip on large EDIFACT files).

Origin

General distributed engineering term, common since 1980s RPCs.

Example in context

A 5 MB EDIFACT D.96A INVOIC compressed with gzip → 380 KB wire format for AS2 transmission.

Related terms

• Segment — EDIFACT wire-format unit.