> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://private-7c7dfe99-fix-nav-issues.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

> Documentation for the Buffers format

# Buffers

| Input | Output | Alias |
| ----- | ------ | ----- |
| ✔     | ✔      |       |

<h2 id="description">
  Description
</h2>

`Buffers` is a very simple binary format for **ephemeral** data exchange, where both the consumer and producer already know the schema and column order.

Unlike [Native](/reference/formats/Native), it does **not** store column names, column types, or any extra metadata.

In this format, data is written and read by [blocks](/resources/develop-contribute/introduction/architecture#block) in a binary format. Buffers uses the same per-column binary representation as the [Native](/reference/formats/Native) format and respects the same Native format settings.

For each block, the following sequence is written:

1. Number of columns (UInt64, little-endian).
2. Number of rows (UInt64, little-endian).
3. For each column:

* Total byte size of the serialized column data (UInt64, little-endian).
* Serialized column data bytes, exactly as in the [Native](/reference/formats/Native) format.

<h2 id="example-usage">
  Example usage
</h2>

Write to a file:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT
    number AS num,
    number * number AS num_square
FROM numbers(10)
INTO OUTFILE 'squares.buffers'
FORMAT Buffers;
```

Read back with an explicit column types:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT
    *
FROM file(
    'squares.buffers',
    'Buffers',
    'col_1 UInt64, col_2 UInt64'
);
```

```txt theme={null}
  ┌─col_1─┬─col_2─┐
  │     0 │     0 │
  │     1 │     1 │
  │     2 │     4 │
  │     3 │     9 │
  │     4 │    16 │
  │     5 │    25 │
  │     6 │    36 │
  │     7 │    49 │
  │     8 │    64 │
  │     9 │    81 │
  └───────┴───────┘
```

If you have a table with same column types, you can populate it directly:

```sql theme={null}
CREATE TABLE number_squares
(
    a UInt64,
    b UInt64
) ENGINE = Memory;

INSERT INTO number_squares
FROM INFILE 'squares.buffers'
FORMAT Buffers;
```

Inspect the table:

```sql theme={null}
SELECT * FROM number_squares;
```

```txt theme={null}
  ┌─a─┬──b─┐
  │ 0 │  0 │
  │ 1 │  1 │
  │ 2 │  4 │
  │ 3 │  9 │
  │ 4 │ 16 │
  │ 5 │ 25 │
  │ 6 │ 36 │
  │ 7 │ 49 │
  │ 8 │ 64 │
  │ 9 │ 81 │
  └───┴────┘
```

<h2 id="format-settings">
  Format settings
</h2>