What are the differences between the XmlSerializer and BinaryFormatter

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The reason a binary formatter is able to deserialize directly to an interface type is because when an object is originally serialized to a binary stream metadata containing type and assembly information is stuck in with the object data. This means that when the binary formatter deserializes the object it knows its type, builds the correct object and you can then cast that to an interface type that object implements.

The XML serializer on the otherhand just serializes to a schema and only serializes the public fields and values of the object and no type information other then that (e.g. interfaces the type implements).

Here is a good post, .NET Serialization, comparing the BinaryFormatter, SoapFormatter, and XmlSerializer. I recommend you look at the following table which in addition to the previously mentioned serializers includes the DataContractSerializer, NetDataContractSerializer and protobuf-net.

Serialization Comparison

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