RFC 8949 · INTERNET STANDARD · 2020

Concise Binary Object Representation

Overview

RFC 8949, “Concise Binary Object Representation”, is an Internet Standard document published in December 2020 by C. Bormann, P. Hoffman. It obsoletes RFC 7049. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

The Concise Binary Object Representation (CBOR) is a data format whose design goals include the possibility of extremely small code size, fairly small message size, and extensibility without the need for version negotiation. These design goals make it different from earlier binary serializations such as ASN.1 and MessagePack.

This document obsoletes RFC 7049, providing editorial improvements, new details, and errata fixes while keeping full compatibility with the interchange format of RFC 7049. It does not create a new version of the format.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Internet Standard” means

A mature, widely-implemented specification that has completed the full IETF standards process — the highest maturity level on the standards track.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 8949 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in HTML,TXT,PDF,XML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC obsoletes
RFC 7049
Other RFCs from 2020

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