Serialization vs. Marshaling

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Serialization is the process of converting a data structure or object into a sequence of bits so that it can be stored in a file, a memory buffer, or transmitted across a network connection to be “resurrected” later in the same or another computer environment. And this sequence of bits can be of any format the user chooses; however, they are usually formed as XML or binary.




And if we have such this structure:

    public struct User
        public int id;
        public string name;

we can get the following results if we serialize a collection of that structure into XML:


Serialization can be observed in Web and WCF services too. The request and parameter information for a function are serialized into XML, and when the function returns the response and the returned data too are serialized into XML. Actually, you don’t have to think about these XML data, CLR handles this for you.

In the same vein, when it comes to Remoting, the sender and recipient must agree to the same form of XML data. That’s, when you send some data CLR serializes this data for you before it sends it to the target process. When the target process receives this XML data, it turns it back (deserializes it) to its original form to be able to handle it.


Therefore, the following ADO.NET line does deserializes the XML file:

    DataSet ds;


So why XML is preferred over binary serialization? That’s because XML is text-based. Thus, it’s free to be transmitted from a process to another or via a network connection, and firewalls always allow it.


Marshaling is the process of converting managed data types to unmanaged data types. There’re big differences between the managed and unmanaged environments. One of those differences is that data types of one environment is not available (and not acceptable) in the other.

For example, you can’t call a function like SetWindowText() -that sets the text of a given window- with a System.String because this function accepts LPCTSTR and not System.String. In addition, you can’t interpret (handle) the return type, BOOl, of the same function, that’s because your managed environment (or C# because of the context of this writing) doesn’t have a BOOL, however, it has a System.Boolean.



Consider the following situation. You have a System.String that contains the value €œHello€:

System.String str = "Hello";


System.Char[] ch = str.ToCharArray();


So what is the difference between Serialization and Marshaling?

C# has a System.Int32, and Windows API has an INT, and both refer to a 32-bit signed integer (on 32-bit machines.) When you marshal the System.Int32 to INT, you just change its type name, you don’t change its contents, or lay it in another way (usually.) When you serialize a System.Int32, you convert it to another form (XML for instance,) so it’s completely changed.


Look, after I get back to Wikipedia documentation for Marshaling, I realized that my answer was so specific to C#!

I mean that, Marshaling is a very general term used to describe transformations of memory. Theoretically, it’s more general than Serialization. In Python for instance, the terms Marshaling and Serialization are used interchangeably. There (in Python,) Marshaling = Serialization, and Serialization = Marshaling, there’s no difference. In computer methodology, there’s a silent difference between Marshaling and Serialization (check the Wikipedia definition.)


Personally, I like to say that Microsoft .NET Framework team’s name was very scientific when they have called that object “MarshalByRefObject” with respect to that silent difference between serialization and marshaling or maybe that name was derived from Python, dunno!

After all, we should keep in mind that in .NET methodology, there’s a big difference between Serialization and Marshaling, Marshaling usually refers to the Interop Marshaling. In .NET Remoting, it refers to that serialization process.


That’s all.

Have a nice day!