What is the difference between Serializable and Externalizable in Java?

Question

What is the difference between Serializable and Externalizable in Java?

Answer 1

Some differences:

1. For Serialization there is no need of default constructor of that class because Object because JVM construct the same with help of Reflection API. In case of Externalization contructor with no arg is required, because the control is in hand of programmar and later on assign the deserialized data to object via setters.

2. In serialization if user want to skip certain properties to be serialized then has to mark that properties as transient, vice versa is not required for Externalization.

3. When backward compatiblity support is expected for any class then it is recommended to go with Externalizable. Serialization supports defaultObject persisting and if object structure is broken then it will cause issue while deserializing.

Answer 2

The Externalizable interface was not actually provided to optimize the serialization process performance! but to provide means of implementing your own custom processing and offer complete control over the format and contents of the stream for an object and its super types!

Examples of this is the implementation of AMF (ActionScript Message Format) remoting to transfer native action script objects over the network.

Answer 3

https://docs.oracle.com/javase/8/docs/platform/serialization/spec/serialTOC.html

Default serialization is somewhat verbose, and assumes the widest possible usage scenario of the serialized object, and accordingly the default format (Serializable) annotates the resultant stream with information about the class of the serialized object.

Externalization give the producer of the object stream complete control over the precise class meta-data (if any) beyond the minimal required identification of the class (e.g. its name). This is clearly desirable in certain situations, such as closed environments, where producer of the object stream and its consumer (which reifies the object from the stream) are matched, and additional metadata about the class serves no purpose and degrades performance.

Additionally (as Uri point out) externalization also provides for complete control over the encoding of the data in the stream corresponding to Java types. For (a contrived) example, you may wish to record boolean true as 'Y' and false as 'N'. Externalization allows you to do that.

Answer 4

Serialization uses certain default behaviors to store and later recreate the object. You may specify in what order or how to handle references and complex data structures, but eventually it comes down to using the default behavior for each primitive data field.

Externalization is used in the rare cases that you really want to store and rebuild your object in a completely different way and without using the default serialization mechanisms for data fields. For example, imagine that you had your own unique encoding and compression scheme.

Answer 5

Basically, Serializable is a marker interface that implies that a class is safe for serialization and the JVM determines how it is serialized. Externalizable contains 2 methods, readExternal and writeExternal. Externalizable allows the implementer to decide how an object is serialized, where as Serializable serializes objects the default way.