c# - Optimising binary serialization for multi-dimensional generic arrays -

i have class need binary serialize. class contains 1 field below:

private t[,] m_data; 

these multi-dimensional arrays can large (hundreds of thousands of elements) , of primitive type. when tried standard .net serialization on object file written disk large , think .net storing lot of repeated data element types , possibly not efficiently done.

i have looked around custom serializers have not seen deal multi-dimensional generic arrays. have experimented built-in .net compression on byte array of memory stream following serializing success, not quick / compressed had hoped.

my question is, should try , write custom serializer optimally serialize array appropriate type (this seems little daunting), or should use standard .net serialization , add compression?

any advice on best approach appreciated, or links resources showing how tackle serialization of multi-dimensional generic array - mentioned existing examples have found not support such structures.

here's came with. code below makes int[1000][10000] , writes out using binaryformatter 2 files - 1 zipped , 1 not.

the zipped file 1.19 mb (1,255,339 bytes) unzipped 38.2 mb (40,150,034 bytes)

        int width = 1000;         int height = 10000;         list<int[]> list = new list<int[]>();         (int = 0; < height; i++)         {             list.add(enumerable.range(0, width).toarray());         }         int[][] bazillionints = list.toarray();         using (filestream fsz = new filestream("c:\\temp_zipped.txt", filemode.create))         using (filestream fs = new filestream("c:\\temp_notzipped.txt", filemode.create))         using (gzipstream gz = new gzipstream(fsz, compressionmode.compress))         {             binaryformatter f = new binaryformatter();             f.serialize(gz, bazillionints);             f.serialize(fs, bazillionints);         } 

i can't think of better/easy way this. zipped version pretty damn tight.

i'd go binaryformatter + gzipstream. making custom not fun @ all.

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[edit mg] hope won't offended edit, uniform repeated range(0,width) skewing things vastly; change to:

        int width = 1000;         int height = 10000;         random rand = new random(123456);         int[,] bazillionints = new int[width, height];         for(int = 0 ; < width;i++)             (int j = 0; j < height; j++)             {                 bazillionints[i, j] = rand.next(50000);             } 

and try it; you'll see temp_notzipped.txt @ 40mb, temp_zipped.txt @ 62mb. not appealing...