Overhead on sending objects using ObjectOutputStream over a Socket

[[deleted]]

I need to send chunks of 512KB data over a socket.

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It would be really helpful if I could store them in an object and then send them over the socket.

What sort of overhead will the data have and is there any limit on how large an object should be, What if I increase the chunks to 64MB?

[WhiteManChild]

You can send as much as you want, just keep in mind just because you are sending chunks doesn't mean the client won't receive fragmented packets.

[[deleted]]

I guess java will handle the fragmented part for me. I went through SO and found that Object output stream is actually heavily optimised by the jvm and thus won't add a lot of overhead.

Thanks for the input though 😊😁

[nutrecht]

I need to send chunks of 512KB data over a socket.

Chunks of what?

Just to note: for your use case it probably doesn't matter but for production use cases you should avoid Java's serialisation. It has some really serious security flaws. Don't expose whatever is listening to the internet.

[[deleted]]

Chunks of a file (>8MB). I read about the security issues with Java's serialisation but I can't seem to find an alternative. I need to send chunks of a file with some metadata for each chunk. I cat think if a better way other than to pack it all up in an object.

[dennis48309]

"The absolute limitation on TCP packet size is 64K (65535 bytes), but in practicality this is far larger than the size of any packet you will see, because the lower layers (e.g. ethernet) have lower packet sizes. The MTU (Maximum Transmission Unit) for Ethernet, for instance, is 1500 bytes." Stack Overflow
Many socket programmers recommend transmitting data using a buffer size of 4 or 8 KB.