Are there faster XML parsers in Java than Xalan/Xe

Question

I haven't found many ways to increase the performance of a Java application that does intensive XML processing other than to leverage hardware such as Tarari or Datapower. Does anyone know of any open source ways to accelerate XML parsing?

Answer 1

VTD-XML is very fast.

It has a DOM-like API and even XPath queries.

Answer 2

Since it hasn't been directly mentioned, I'll throw in Aalto, which is fastest java xml parser according to some measurements, like:

• JVM-serializers (which compares, XML, JSON, protobuf, Thrift etc etc)
• Alternative serialization methods for WSTest (Java web services)

which are not written by Aalto developers.

Answer 3

Take a look at Stax (streaming) parsers. See the sun reference manual. One of the implementations is the woodstox project.

Answer 4

Check Javolution as well

Answer 5

Depending on the complexity of your XML messages you might find a custom parser can be 10x faster (though more work to write) However if performance is critical, I wouldn't suggest using a generic parser. (Also I wouldn't suggest using XML as its not designed for performance, but that's another story, .. ;)

Answer 6

Piccolo claims to be pretty fast. Can't say I've used it myself though. You might also try JDOM. As ever, benchmark with representative data of your real load.

It partly depends on what you're trying to do. Do you need to pull the whole document into memory, or can you operate in a streaming manner? Different approaches have different trade-offs and are better for different situations.