Skip to main content

⚡ B-FAST (Binary Fast Adaptive Serialization Transfer)

B-FAST is an ultra-high performance binary serialization protocol, developed in Rust for Python and TypeScript ecosystems. It's designed to replace JSON in critical routes where latency, CPU usage, and bandwidth are bottlenecks.

"Performance is not just about speed—it's about efficiency where it matters most"

B-FAST was born from the recognition that modern applications need more than just fast serialization—they need smart serialization that adapts to real-world constraints. After extensive optimization, B-FAST has found its perfect niche in bandwidth-constrained environments, achieving 1.7x faster than orjson for simple objects and 5.7x faster on slow networks.

Philosophy: We believe that the future of data transfer lies not in raw CPU speed alone, but in intelligent protocols that minimize network overhead while maintaining excellent performance. B-FAST represents our contribution to a more efficient, bandwidth-conscious web.

📚 Documentation

Full documentation available at: https://marcelomarkus.github.io/b-fast/

🚀 Why B-FAST?

  • Rust Engine: Native serialization without Python interpreter overhead.
  • Pydantic Native: Reads Pydantic model attributes directly from memory, skipping the slow .model_dump() process.
  • Zero-Copy NumPy: Serializes tensors and numeric arrays directly, achieving 14-96x speedup vs JSON/orjson.
  • Parallel Compression: LZ4 with multi-thread processing for large payloads (>1MB).
  • Cache Optimized: Aligned allocation and batch processing for maximum efficiency.

📊 Benchmarks (Updated Results)

🚀 Simple Objects (10,000)

Format Time (ms) Speedup
JSON 12.0ms 1.0x
orjson 8.19ms 1.5x
B-FAST 4.83ms 🚀 2.5x

B-FAST is 1.7x faster than orjson!

🔄 Round-Trip (Encode + Network + Decode)

Complete test including network transfer and deserialization (10,000 objects):

📡 100 Mbps (Slow Network)

Format Total Time Speedup vs orjson
JSON 114.5ms 0.8x
orjson 91.7ms 1.0x
B-FAST + LZ4 16.1ms 🚀 5.7x

📡 1 Gbps (Fast Network)

Format Total Time Speedup vs orjson
JSON 29.4ms 0.5x
orjson 15.3ms 1.0x
B-FAST + LZ4 7.2ms 🚀 2.1x

📡 10 Gbps (Ultra-Fast Network)

Format Total Time Speedup vs orjson
JSON 20.9ms 0.4x
orjson 7.7ms 1.0x
B-FAST + LZ4 6.3ms 🚀 1.2x

🎯 Ideal Use Cases

  • 📱 Mobile/IoT: 89% data savings + 5.7x performance on slow networks
  • 🌐 APIs with slow networks: Up to 5.7x faster than orjson
  • 📊 Data pipelines: 14-96x speedup for NumPy arrays
  • 🗜️ Storage/Cache: Superior integrated compression
  • 🚀 Simple objects: 1.7x faster than orjson

📦 Installation

Backend (Python)

# Basic installation
pip install bfast-py

# With FastAPI support
pip install "bfast-py[fastapi]"

or with uv:

uv add bfast-py
# or
uv add "bfast-py[fastapi]"

Frontend (TypeScript)

npm install bfast-client

🛠️ How to Use

Backend (Python)

B-FAST includes a built-in BFastResponse for seamless integration.

from fastapi import FastAPI
from pydantic import BaseModel
from b_fast import BFastResponse

app = FastAPI()

class User(BaseModel):
    id: int
    name: str

@app.get("/users", response_class=BFastResponse)
async def get_users():
    # Returns binary B-FAST data with automatic LZ4 compression
    return [User(id=i, name=f"User {i}") for i in range(1000)]

# ⚡ Streamable HTTP (Progressive Chunks)
from b_fast import BFastStreamingResponse

@app.get("/users/stream")
async def stream_users():
    async def user_generator():
        for i in range(1000):
            yield User(id=i, name=f"User {i}")
    
    # Streams framed chunks with Content-Type: application/x-bfast-stream
    return BFastStreamingResponse(user_generator())

2. Flask

from flask import Flask, Response
import b_fast

app = Flask(__name__)
encoder = b_fast.BFast()

@app.route('/users')
def get_users():
    users = [{"id": i, "name": f"User {i}"} for i in range(1000)]
    data = encoder.encode_packed(users, compress=True)
    return Response(data, mimetype='application/octet-stream')

3. Django

from django.http import HttpResponse
import b_fast

encoder = b_fast.BFast()

def get_users(request):
    users = [{"id": i, "name": f"User {i}"} for i in range(1000)]
    data = encoder.encode_packed(users, compress=True)
    return HttpResponse(data, content_type='application/octet-stream')

4. Any Python Framework

import b_fast

encoder = b_fast.BFast()

# Encode your data
data = encoder.encode_packed(your_data, compress=True)

# Return as bytes (binary response)

Frontend (TypeScript)

1. Standard Response

import { BFastDecoder } from 'bfast-client';

async function loadData() {
    const response = await fetch('/users');
    const buffer = await response.arrayBuffer();
    
    // Decodes and decompresses LZ4 automatically
    const users = BFastDecoder.decode(buffer);
    console.log(users);
}

2. Streamable HTTP (Progressive Stream)

import { decodeReadableStream } from 'bfast-client';

async function streamData() {
    const response = await fetch('/users/stream');
    
    // Iterates over incoming network chunks in real-time
    for await (const user of decodeReadableStream(response.body!)) {
        console.log('Received user in real-time:', user);
    }
}

About B-FAST

Key Achievements:

  • 🚀 1.7x faster than orjson for simple objects
  • 🚀 5.7x faster than orjson on 100 Mbps networks (round-trip)
  • 📦 89% smaller payloads with built-in LZ4 compression
  • ⚡ 14-96x speedup for NumPy arrays
  • 🎯 Competitive even on ultra-fast 10 Gbps networks

B-FAST Performance Benchmarks

B-FAST performance comparison across different scenarios: simple objects, large objects on 100 Mbps network, NumPy arrays, and payload size. B-FAST demonstrates superiority in speed (1.7-14x faster) and bandwidth efficiency (90% reduction with LZ4).

Developed by: marcelomarkus

📄 License

Distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE for more information.

Release files for bfast-py 1.4.0

For a detailed explanation of source distributions (sdists) and built distributions (wheels), please see the package formats documentation.

Built distributions (wheels)

Table of built distributions (wheels) for bfast-py 1.4.0
File Interpreter ABI Platform
bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-win_amd64.whl CPython 3.8 abi3 Windows x86-64 Details
bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_34_x86_64.whl CPython 3.8 abi3 Linux glibc 2.34+ x86-64 Details
bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl CPython 3.8 abi3 macOS 11.0+ ARM64 Details

Total release size: 1.2 MB

Release files / bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-win_amd64.whl

Download URL bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-win_amd64.whl
Size 296.9 kB
Tags CPython 3.8 Windows x86-64 abi3
SHA-256 checksum
How to use checksums
603fccaf4f88bb2ccb9b254553ce2834d8e2634ea0deb77ab9b969dbd8e01f18
BLAKE2b-256 checksum
How to use checksums
f7b2c419156479f1af665cb742c8c25b861307cbaf47664daa18bd28cfccb847
Upload date
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing?
What is trusted publishing?
No
Uploaded via twine/6.1.0 CPython/3.13.13

Release files / bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_34_x86_64.whl

Download URL bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-manylinux_2_34_x86_64.whl
Size 478.5 kB
Tags CPython 3.8 Linux glibc 2.34+ x86-64 abi3
SHA-256 checksum
How to use checksums
fac15f769c12b4b7c5ccd1e97d12841109de1b7eb791da8aa1b9a39d97b9a2cc
BLAKE2b-256 checksum
How to use checksums
76f9e169f4fbc485d9eae32dfb27797a0f82f41e188d03dcbd323c4b68841231
Upload date
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing?
What is trusted publishing?
No
Uploaded via twine/6.1.0 CPython/3.13.13

Release files / bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl

Download URL bfast_py-1.4.0-cp38-abi3-macosx_11_0_arm64.whl
Size 419.0 kB
Tags CPython 3.8 abi3 macOS 11.0+ ARM64
SHA-256 checksum
How to use checksums
1efe7ea712fb4650652753dc006163b475e957e1ec70208b917eb4195ac01c9b
BLAKE2b-256 checksum
How to use checksums
03a2035a3bf3dba2acbb8d611bba14d8020e1276e8294fc1f6eb15fc1a4ca30b
Upload date
Uploaded using Trusted Publishing?
What is trusted publishing?
No
Uploaded via twine/6.1.0 CPython/3.13.13

Release history Release notifications | RSS feed

1.7.0

3 release files

1.6.1

3 release files

1.6.0

3 release files

1.5.1

3 release files

1.5.0

3 release files

This release

1.4.0 This release

3 release files

1.3.0

3 release files

1.2.1

3 release files

1.2.0

3 release files

1.1.0

3 release files

1.0.7

3 release files

1.0.6

3 release files

1.0.5

3 release files

1.0.4

3 release files

1.0.3

3 release files

0.1.0

3 release files

Anthropic, PBC Visionary sponsor Bloomberg Visionary sponsor Hudson River Trading Visionary sponsor Meta Visionary sponsor NVIDIA Visionary sponsor Microsoft Sustainability sponsor Depot Continuous Integration AWS Cloud computing and Security Sponsor Datadog Monitoring Fastly CDN Google Download Analytics Sentry Error logging StatusPage Status page