Optimized Buffer, for Next.js

Next Buffer is a version of Node.js Buffer module, optimized for client-side Next.js, with a ridiculously reduced bundle size.

This NPM module is usable server-side, client-side and in Edge Runtime (for middleware). Since Node.js Buffer is C++ implemented, it is already very fast and nothing more has been done on this side. Tis module is providing a pure-JS implementation of the Buffer API (at least for the main usecases), which is tree-shaking ready and optimized for client-side browser usage.

Please note that Next Buffer provides an API that is not 100% identical to Node's Buffer API, but it is compatible with the most common use cases. See the detailed list of implementations for more information. These limitations only concern the pure-JS implementation, when used on client-side (browser).

Architecture & Performances

Choice of using Buffer or pure-JS is transparently and automatically handle by webpack. Fallback to Buffer (with C++ library) in 'node' and 'worker' environments, for faster execution (especially when encoding long string) in Next.js and Edge Runtime middlewares. On client-side, you will automatically use the pure-JS implementation, which is lighter and faster than the browserify Buffer implementation.

Pure-JS, tree-shaking ready, with optimized performances:

• 2x to 8x faster than browserify Buffer for encoding/decoding Base64 (used when using Buffer in client-side Next.js)
• 20x lighter, only 1kB once webpacked by Next.js, saving more than 20kB of bundle size (compared to browserify Buffer when webpacked by Next.js)

20kB seems nothing, but it's worth it if you're only using Buffer as a string encoder/decoder... From acorns grow oak trees.

Installation

Install with npm:

npm install next-buffer

Usages

The main difference with original Buffer API is that you have to separately import the specific encoder/decoders you need. This is to allow tree-shaking to be effective, and to avoid webpacking the whole Buffer API when you only need a small part of it.

The other difference is that you will instanciate Buffer with Buffer.from(string, FROM_UTF8) where FROM_UTF8 is an encoder (object providing an encode(string) method). In the original API, you use Buffer.from(string, 'utf-8'), where 'utf-8' is a string representing an encoding scheme.

Import only the class you need, in order tree-shaking to be effective.

Transcoding string from UTF-8 to Base64Url

import { Buffer, TO_BASE64URL } from 'next-buffer';

const phrase = 'Hello Mr Warniiiz 👋';
const base64Phrase = Buffer.from(phrase).toString(TO_BASE64URL);

console.log(base64Phrase);
// Expected: SGVsbG8gTXIgV2FybmlpaXog8J-Riw

FROM_UTF8 is the default Encoder, so you can omit the second parameter of Buffer.from() static method: In the above code snippet, Buffer.from(phrase) is equivalent to Buffer.from(phrase, FROM_UTF8).

Transcoding string from Base64Url to Latin-1

import { Buffer, FROM_BASE64URL, TO_LATIN1 } from 'next-buffer';

const base64Phrase = "SGVsbG8gTXIgV2FybmlpaXog8J-Riw";
const phrase = Buffer.from(base64Phrase, FROM_BASE64URL).toString(TO_LATIN1);

console.log(phrase);
// Expected: Hello Mr Warniiiz ð
// (Latin-1 does not support Unicode characters)

Transcoding string from Hex to UTF-8

import { Buffer, FROM_HEX } from 'next-buffer';

const hexPhrase = "48656c6c6f204d72205761726e6969697a20f09f918b";
const phrase = Buffer.from(hexPhrase, FROM_HEX).toString();

console.log(phrase);
// Expected: Hello Mr Warniiiz 👋

TO_UTF8 is the default Decoder, so you can omit the only parameter of toString() method: In the above code snippet, buffer.toString() is equivalent to buffer.toString(TO_UTF8).

Available encoders

Named straightforward, after their equivalent from Node's Buffer:

• FROM_UTF8
• FROM_ASCII
• FROM_LATIN1
• FROM_BINARY
• FROM_UTF16LE
• FROM_UCS2
• FROM_BASE64
• FROM_BASE64URL
• FROM_HEX

Available decoders

• TO_UTF8
• TO_ASCII
• TO_LATIN1
• TO_BINARY
• TO_UTF16LE
• TO_UCS2
• TO_BASE64
• TO_BASE64URL
• TO_HEX

Needs more?

Feel free to open an issue on GitHub if you need a specific encoder/decoder. You can also submit a pull request, developping your own Encoder/Decoder class: the only requirement is a respective encode(string) => typedArray or decode(typedArray) => string method.

Pure-JS limitations

Although the fallback on Node's Buffer when using Next Buffer in Node or Edge runtime shall never be a problem, you may encounter some limitations when using Next Buffer in client-side Next.js.

The Pure-JS API is not 100% identical as the one of Node.js. Some of the initial methods have not yet been implemented. If you need some, feel free to ask or to do a pull-request.

Implementation of Buffer basically extends Uint8Array, which natively implements some of the methods of Node.js Buffer.

Implemented methods (in Pure-JS Buffer):

• Static method: Buffer.compare(buf1, buf2)
• Static method: Buffer.concat(list[, totalLength]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• Static method: Buffer.from(array)
• Static method: Buffer.from(arrayBuffer[, byteOffset[, length]])
• Static method: Buffer.from(buffer)
• Static method: Buffer.from(object[, offsetOrEncoding[, length]]) /!\ MODIFIED IMPLEMENTATION
• Static method: Buffer.from(string[, encoding]) /!\ MODIFIED IMPLEMENTATION
• Static method: Buffer.isBuffer(obj)
• buf.compare(target[, targetStart[, targetEnd[, sourceStart[, sourceEnd]]]]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• buf.equals(otherBuffer)
• buf.toString([encoding[, start[, end]]]) /!\ PARTIAL & MODIFIED IMPLEMENTATION

Inherited methods (from UInt8Array):

• buf[index]
• buf.buffer
• buf.byteOffset
• buf.entries()
• buf.fill(value[, offset[, end]][, encoding]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• buf.includes(value[, byteOffset][, encoding]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• buf.indexOf(value[, byteOffset][, encoding]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• buf.keys()
• buf.length
• buf.lastIndexOf(value[, byteOffset][, encoding]) /!\ PARTIAL IMPLEMENTATION
• buf.slice([start[, end]])
• buf.subarray([start[, end]])
• buf.values()

Not implemented :

• Static method: Buffer.alloc(size[, fill[, encoding]])
• Static method: Buffer.allocUnsafe(size)
• Static method: Buffer.allocUnsafeSlow(size)
• Static method: Buffer.byteLength(string[, encoding])
• Static method: Buffer.copyBytesFrom(view[, offset[, length]])
• Static method: Buffer.isEncoding(encoding)
• Class property: Buffer.poolSize
• buf.copy(target[, targetStart[, sourceStart[, sourceEnd]]])
• buf.readInt16BE|readBigInt64LE|readBigUInt64LE([offset]) ### x22 methods
• buf.swap16()
• buf.swap32()
• buf.swap64()
• buf.toJSON()
• buf.write(string[, offset[, length]][, encoding])
• buf.writeBigInt64BE|writeBigInt64LE|writeInt8(value[, offset]) ### x22 methods

Please refer to:

• Node.js Buffer API
• Node.js Buffer Implementation

Tests

To launch the tests using jest:

npm run test

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

License

Next Buffer module is ISC licensed.