What’s on the Data Formats poster
A 7-row table: Format · Shape · Best for.
Common interchange formats and where each belongs.
- JSON — Text, nested — APIs, config, universal
- CSV — Text, flat — Spreadsheets, simple export
- YAML — Text, nested — Human-edited config
- TOML — Text, flat-ish — Config with clear types
- Parquet — Binary, columnar — Analytics at volume
- Protobuf — Binary, schema'd — Service-to-service, compact
- NDJSON — One JSON per line — Streaming and logs
CSV has no standard for quoting, encoding or types. It works until a field contains a comma, a newline or a leading zero.
Questions about the Data Formats poster
- What’s on the Data Formats poster?
- A 7-row table: Format · Shape · Best for. Common interchange formats and where each belongs. JSON — Text, nested — APIs, config, universal; CSV — Text, flat — Spreadsheets, simple export; YAML — Text, nested — Human-edited config; TOML — Text, flat-ish — Config with clear types; Parquet — Binary, columnar — Analytics at volume; Protobuf — Binary, schema'd — Service-to-service, compact; NDJSON — One JSON per line — Streaming and logs. CSV has no standard for quoting, encoding or types. It works until a field contains a comma, a newline or a leading zero.
- Who is the Data Formats poster for?
- Data Formats belongs to the Computing section rather than to a school year, because computing is not something one grade owns. Anyone learning data can pin it up — a beginner, a student mid-course, or someone revising years later.
- When should you use the Data Formats poster?
- Human-readable for config, binary for volume. Do not send CSV between services. A wall chart earns its place by being glanceable from where the work is happening, so Data Formats belongs on the wall where that computing work actually happens, within glancing distance, rather than filed away.
- What other posters go with Data Formats?
- ACID, The CAP Theorem and Choosing a Chart sit alongside Data Formats in the Computing section. Printed together they make a wall rather than a single sheet, which is how a reference set actually gets used.ACIDThe CAP TheoremChoosing a Chart
- Is the Data Formats poster free to download and print?
- Yes. Data Formats downloads as a free PDF with no account, no email and no watermark, like everything else in the Computing section. Print as many copies as you like for a home, a classroom, a library or a tutoring group; reselling the file is the only thing the licence rules out.Read the licence
- What size does the Data Formats poster print at?
- Data Formats is a vector PDF laid out for US Letter, and prints on A4 with Fit to page — the same file, no separate download. Because every mark on it is drawn rather than photographed, it stays sharp enlarged to A3, A2 or A1 at a copy shop. Colour carries emphasis only, so a greyscale print of Data Formats loses nothing.Printing guide
Related posters
Charts that sit alongside Data Formats on the same wall.
Browse every Computing poster, or start from the full catalogue.