# neuecc/ZeroFormatter

Infinitely Fast Deserializer for .NET, .NET Core and Unity.

Repository: https://github.com/neuecc/ZeroFormatter
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/zeroformatter
Language: C#
License: MIT
License Family: permissive
Topics: c-sharp, unity, serializer, binaryformat
Archived: true
Last push: 2022-04-12T00:09:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 10/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3643, "days_push": 1605, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: archived
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 2427, forks 251 (observed 2026-08-28T04:06:50.865810+00:00)

## What it is
ZeroFormatter is an extremely fast binary serializer for .NET, .NET Core, and Unity that allows deserialization without parsing by accessing serialized data directly. It uses C# code as its schema via attributes, similar to FlatBuffers but with a cleaner, strongly-typed API.

## Use cases
- serialize game state in Unity with IL2CPP
- fast binary serialization for microservices in .NET
- deserialize large datasets without parsing overhead
- replace protobuf or FlatBuffers with a C#-only schema
- share serialized types between .NET and Unity projects
- serialize dictionaries and polymorphic union types efficiently

## When to choose
- you need maximum serialization/deserialization performance in C# or Unity
- you want schema defined directly in C# without an IDL
- you target Unity including IL2CPP
- you need zero-copy style access to serialized data

## When to avoid
- you need cross-language serialization with non-.NET consumers
- you need human-readable formats like JSON
- you need a serializer with active ongoing development and community support
- your schemas must be shared with non-C# systems

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: maintenance
- function: serialization
- domain: developer-tools, performance
- platform: dotnet, cross-platform, windows
- tags: csharp, unity, binary-serialization, zero-copy, il2cpp, flatbuffers-alternative, game-development, linux, macos

## Member repositories
- neuecc/ZeroFormatter (main) score 10

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.865810+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T02:31:36.082617+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/neuecc/ZeroFormatter (fetched 2026-08-28T04:06:50.865810+00:00, sha b871808e21ff)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.