A low-level, fast, ultra-lightweight (3KB gzipped) JavaScript library for decoding and encoding protocol buffers (a compact binary format for structured data serialization).

Designed to be a building block for writing customized decoders and encoders. If you need an all-purpose protobuf JS library that does most of the work for you, take a look at protocol-buffers too.

Install pbf and compile a JavaScript module from a .proto file:

$ npm install -g pbf
$ pbf test.proto > test.js

Then read and write objects using the module like this:

var obj = Test.read(new Pbf(buffer)); // read
var buffer = Test.write(obj, new Pbf()); // write

var data = new Pbf(buffer).readFields(readData, {});

function readData(tag, data, pbf) {
    if (tag === 1) data.name = pbf.readString();
    else if (tag === 2) data.version = pbf.readVarint();
    else if (tag === 3) data.layer = pbf.readMessage(readLayer, {});
}
function readLayer(tag, layer, pbf) {
    if (tag === 1) layer.name = pbf.readString();
    else if (tag === 3) layer.size = pbf.readVarint();
}

var pbf = new Pbf();
writeData(data, pbf);
var buffer = pbf.finish();

function writeData(data, pbf) {
    pbf.writeStringField(1, data.name);
    pbf.writeVarintField(2, data.version);
    pbf.writeMessage(3, writeLayer, data.layer);
}
function writeLayer(layer, pbf) {
    pbf.writeStringField(1, layer.name);
    pbf.writeVarintField(2, layer.size);
}

Node and Browserify:

npm install pbf

Making a browser build:

npm install
npm run build-dev # dist/pbf-dev.js (development build)
npm run build-min # dist/pbf.js (minified production build)

Create a Pbf object, optionally given a Buffer or Uint8Array as input data:

// parse a pbf file from disk in Node
var pbf = new Pbf(fs.readFileSync('data.pbf'));

// parse a pbf file in a browser after an ajax request with responseType="arraybuffer"
var pbf = new Pbf(new Uint8Array(xhr.response));

Pbf object properties:

pbf.length; // length of the underlying buffer
pbf.pos; // current offset for reading or writing

Read a sequence of fields:

pbf.readFields(function (tag) {
    if (tag === 1) pbf.readVarint();
    else if (tag === 2) pbf.readString();
    else ...
});

It optionally accepts an object that will be passed to the reading function for easier construction of decoded data, and also passes the Pbf object as a third argument:

var result = pbf.readFields(callback, {})

function callback(tag, result, pbf) {
    if (tag === 1) result.id = pbf.readVarint();
}

To read an embedded message, use pbf.readMessage(fn[, obj]) (in the same way as read).

Read values:

var value = pbf.readVarint();
var str = pbf.readString();
var numbers = pbf.readPackedVarint();

For lazy or partial decoding, simply save the position instead of reading a value, then later set it back to the saved value and read:

var fooPos = -1;
pbf.readFields(function (tag) {
    if (tag === 1) fooPos = pbf.pos;
});
...
pbf.pos = fooPos;
pbf.readMessage(readFoo);

Scalar reading methods:

• readVarint()
• readSVarint()
• readVarint64() (readVarint version that handles negative int64 values)
• readFixed32()
• readFixed64()
• readSFixed32()
• readSFixed64()
• readBoolean()
• readFloat()
• readDouble()
• readString()
• readBytes()
• skip(value)

Packed reading methods:

• readPackedVarint()
• readPackedSVarint()
• readPackedFixed32()
• readPackedFixed64()
• readPackedSFixed32()
• readPackedSFixed64()
• readPackedBoolean()
• readPackedFloat()
• readPackedDouble()

Write values:

pbf.writeVarint(123);
pbf.writeString("Hello world");

Write an embedded message:

pbf.writeMessage(1, writeObj, obj);

function writeObj(obj, pbf) {
    pbf.writeStringField(obj.name);
    pbf.writeVarintField(obj.version);
}

Field writing methods:

• writeVarintField(tag, val)
• writeSVarintField(tag, val)
• writeFixed32Field(tag, val)
• writeFixed64Field(tag, val)
• writeSFixed32Field(tag, val)
• writeSFixed64Field(tag, val)
• writeBooleanField(tag, val)
• writeFloatField(tag, val)
• writeDoubleField(tag, val)
• writeStringField(tag, val)
• writeBytesField(tag, buffer)

Packed field writing methods:

• writePackedVarint(tag, val)
• writePackedSVarint(tag, val)
• writePackedSFixed32(tag, val)
• writePackedSFixed64(tag, val)
• writePackedBoolean(tag, val)
• writePackedFloat(tag, val)
• writePackedDouble(tag, val)

Scalar writing methods:

• writeVarint(val)
• writeSVarint(val)
• writeSFixed32(val)
• writeSFixed64(val)
• writeBoolean(val)
• writeFloat(val)
• writeDouble(val)
• writeString(val)
• writeBytes(buffer)

Message writing methods:

• writeMessage(tag, fn[, obj])
• writeRawMessage(fn[, obj])

Misc methods:

• realloc(minBytes) - pad the underlying buffer size to accommodate the given number of bytes; note that the size increases exponentially, so it won't necessarily equal the size of data written
• finish() - make the current buffer ready for reading and return the data as a buffer slice
• destroy() - dispose the buffer

For an example of a real-world usage of the library, see vector-tile-js.

If installed globally, pbf provides a binary that compiles proto files into JavaScript modules. Usage:

$ pbf <proto_path> [--no-write] [--no-read] [--browser]

The --no-write and --no-read switches remove corresponding code in the output. The --browser switch makes the module work in browsers instead of Node.

The resulting module exports each message by name with the following methods:

• read(pbf) - decodes an object from the given Pbf instance
• write(obj, pbf) - encodes an object into the given Pbf instance (usually empty)

The resulting code is pretty short and easy to understand, so you can customize it easily.

• Added support for syntax keyword proto files (by updating resolve-protobuf-schema dependency).

• Added writeRawMessage method for writing a message without a tag, useful for creating pbfs with multiple top-level messages.

• Added readVarint64 method for proper decoding of negative int64-encoded values.

• Fixed pbf proto compile tool generating broken writing code.

• Added pbf binary that compiles .proto files into Pbf-based JavaScript modules.

• Changed writeMessage signature to (tag, fn, obj) (see example in the docs) for a huge encoding performance improvement.
• Replaced readPacked and writePacked methods that accept type as a string with readPackedVarint, etc. for each type (better performance and simpler API).

• 5x faster encoding in Node (vector tile benchmark).
• 40x faster encoding and 3x faster decoding in the browser (vector tile benchmark).

• Significantly improved readPacked and writePacked performance (the tile reading benchmark is now 70% faster).

Brings tons of improvements and fixes over the previous version (0.0.2). Basically makes the library complete.

• Improved performance of both reading and writing.
• Made the browser build 3 times smaller.
• Added convenience readFields and readMessage methods for a much easier reading API.
• Added reading methods: readFloat, readBoolean, readSFixed32, readSFixed64.
• Added writing methods: writeUInt64, writeSFixed32, writeSFixed64.
• Improved readDouble and readString to use native Buffer methods under Node.
• Improved readString and writeString to use HTML5 TextEncoder and TextDecoder where available.
• Made Pbf buffer argument optional.
• Added extensive docs and examples in the readme.
• Added an extensive test suite that brings test coverage up to 100%.

• Renamed readBuffer/writeBuffer to readBytes/writeBytes.
• Renamed readUInt32/writeUInt32 to readFixed32/writeFixed32, etc.
• Renamed writeTaggedVarint to writeVarintField, etc.
• Changed writePacked signature from (type, tag, items) to (tag, type, items).

• Fixed readVarint to handle varints bigger than 6 bytes.
• Fixed readSVarint to handle number bigger than 2^30.
• Fixed writeVarint failing on some integers.
• Fixed writeVarint not throwing an error on numbers that are too big.
• Fixed readUInt64 always failing.
• Fixed writing to an empty buffer always failing.