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Comparison of XML serializations: cost benefits versus complexity

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Abstract

More and more data are structured, stored, and sent over a network using the Extensible Markup Language (XML) language. There are, however, concerns about the verbosity of XML in such a way that it may restrain further adoption of the language, especially when exchanging XML-based data over heterogeneous networks, and when it is used within constrained (mobile) devices. Therefore, alternative (binary) serialization formats of the XML data become relevant in order to reduce this overhead. However, usingbinary-encoded XML should not introduce interoperability issues with existing applications nor add additional complexity to new applications. On top of that, it should have a clear cost reduction over the current plain-text serialization format. A first technology is developed within the ISO/IEC Moving Picture Experts Group, namely the Binary MPEG Format for XML. It provides good compression efficiency, ability to (partially) update existing XML trees, and facilitates random access into, and manipulation of, the binary-encoded bit stream. Another technique is based on the Abstract Syntax Notation One specification with the Packed Encoding Rules created by the ITU-T. This paper evaluates both techniques as alternative XML serialization formats and introduces a solution for the interoperability concerns. This solution and the alternative serialization formats are validated against two real-life use cases in terms of processing speed and cost reduction. The efficiency of the alternative serialization formats are compared to a classic plain text compression technique, in particular ZIP compression.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electronics and Information Systems—Multimedia Lab, Ghent University—IBBT, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 41, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Robbie De Sutter, Sam Lerouge, Peter De Neve & Rik Van de Walle

  2. Department of Information Technology (ITEC), Klagenfurt University, Universitätsstraße 65–67, 9020, Klagenfurt, Austria

    Christian Timmerer & Hermann Hellwagner

Authors
  1. Robbie De Sutter
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  2. Sam Lerouge
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  3. Peter De Neve
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  4. Christian Timmerer
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  5. Hermann Hellwagner
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  6. Rik Van de Walle
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Robbie De Sutter.

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De Sutter, R., Lerouge, S., De Neve, P. et al. Comparison of XML serializations: cost benefits versus complexity. Multimedia Systems 12, 101–115 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00530-006-0044-y

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