aid: protocol-buffers
name: Protocol Buffers
description: >-
  Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) is Google's language-neutral, platform-neutral,
  extensible mechanism for serializing structured data. It defines a schema
  language for specifying message structures in .proto files, which are
  compiled into efficient binary wire format code for multiple programming
  languages. Widely used with gRPC for high-performance remote procedure calls
  and data interchange.
type: Index
accessModel:
  pricing: freemium
  onboarding: unknown
  trial: false
  try_now: false
  public: false
  label: Freemium
  confidence: medium
  source:
  - plans
  generated: '2026-07-22'
  method: derived
image: https://kinlane-images.s3.amazonaws.com/shared/apis-json/icons/protocol-buffers.png
url: >-
  https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/protocol-buffers/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
tags:
  - Data Format
  - gRPC
  - Protobuf
  - Protocol Buffers
  - Serialization
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-04-28'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
apis:
  - aid: protocol-buffers:protocol-buffers
    name: Protocol Buffers
    description: >-
      Protocol Buffers (Protobuf) is Google's language-neutral, platform-neutral,
      extensible mechanism for serializing structured data. It defines a schema
      language for specifying message structures in .proto files, which are
      compiled into efficient binary wire format code for multiple programming
      languages.
    humanURL: https://protobuf.dev/
    tags:
      - Data Format
      - gRPC
      - Protobuf
      - Protocol Buffers
      - Serialization
    properties:
      - type: Documentation
        url: https://protobuf.dev/overview/
      - type: GettingStarted
        url: https://protobuf.dev/getting-started/
      - type: Reference
        url: https://protobuf.dev/reference/
      - type: JSONLDContext
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/protocol-buffers/refs/heads/main/json-ld/protocol-buffers-context.jsonld
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/protocol-buffers/refs/heads/main/json-schema/protocol-buffers-descriptor.json
      - type: JSONSchema
        url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/protocol-buffers/refs/heads/main/json-schema/protocol-buffers-json-mapping.json
common:
  - type: DomainSecurity
    url: security/protocol-buffers-domain-security.yml
  - type: Website
    url: https://protobuf.dev/
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://protobuf.dev/overview/
  - type: GitHubOrganization
    url: https://github.com/protocolbuffers
  - type: GitHubRepository
    url: https://github.com/protocolbuffers/protobuf
  - url: https://protobuf.dev/news/index.xml
    type: Blog
maintainers:
  - FN: Kin Lane
    email: kin@apievangelist.com