Modern distributed systems demand fast, efficient data exchange over REST APIs. JSON has long been the default—easy to read and debug and works in every browser. But it can be slow and bulky at scale. Protocol Buffers (ProtoBuf) is a binary alternative from Google with smaller payloads, faster serialization, and built-in schema enforcement.

This talk explores both formats through a practical lens: we build the same REST API twice—once with JSON, once with ProtoBuf—and benchmark them head-to-head with a live demo.

We cover the trade-offs: JSON's readability and browser support vs. ProtoBuf's strict typing, backward compatibility, and code generation.

We explore why AI model serving platforms and ML training pipelines rely on ProtoBuf for performance-critical workloads and how gRPC extends it further.

The session includes a real-world security demo showing how crafted input can crash a service.
You leave with working demo code, benchmarks, and a clear decision guide