Seralization Formats

Serialization in æternity defines the standardized binary formats used to encode different blockchain objects for critical operations like hashing, Merkle Patricia Tree insertion, and transaction signing. These formats ensure consistent data representation across the network, enabling reliable cryptographic operations and state management.

The Seralization documentation provides detailed technical specifications for serializing all æternity blockchain objects, including blocks, transactions, accounts, smart contracts, and state trees. It covers RLP (Recursive Length Prefix) encoding specifications, version handling, and format changes across protocol upgrades like Roma, Fortuna, and Lima. The documentation is particularly thorough in detailing object tags, field specifications, and special type handling, making it an essential reference for developers working with æternity's data structures at a protocol level.