docs/html/training/performance/battery/network/action-any-traffic.jd

page.title=Optimizing General Network Use
trainingnavtop=true

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<h2>This lesson teaches you to</h2>
<ol>
  <li><a href="#compress-data">Compress Data</a>
  <li><a href="#cache-locally">Cache Files Locally</a></li>
  <li><a href="#pre-fetch">Optimize Pre-Fetch Cache Size</a></li>
</ol>

</div>
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<p>
  In general, reducing the amount of network traffic helps reduce battery drain.
  In addition to the battery-optimization techniques of the previous lessons,
  you should look at these general-purpose techniques and see if you can apply
  them to your app.
</p>

<p>
  This lesson briefly covers techniques that you can use to lower network traffic and
  consequently reduce the battery drain caused by your app.
</p>

<h2 id="compress-data">Compress Data</h2>

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    src="//www.youtube.com/embed/IwxIIUypnTE?autohide=1&amp;showinfo=0"
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<p>
  Reducing the amount of data sent or received over a network connection also
  reduces the duration of the connection, which conserves battery. You can:
</p>

<ul>
  <li>Compress data, using a compression technique such as GZIP compression.</li>

  <li>Use succinct data protocols. While JSON and XML offer human-readability, and
    language-flexibility, they are bandwidth-heavy formats, with
    high serialization costs in the Android platform. Binary serialization formats,
    such as <a href="https://developers.google.com/protocol-buffers/">Protocol Buffers</a> or
    <a href="https://google.github.io/flatbuffers/">FlatBuffers</a> offer a smaller on-the-wire
    packet size, as well as faster encoding and decoding time. If your application transfers a lot
    of serialized data on a regular basis, these formats can yield benefits for decoding time and
    transfer size.
  </li>
</ul>


<h2 id="cache-locally">Cache Files Locally</h2>

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    src="//www.youtube.com/embed/7lxVqqWwTb0?autohide=1&amp;showinfo=0"
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<p>
  Your app can avoid downloading duplicate data by caching. Always cache static resources,
  including on-demand downloads such as full size images, and cache them for as long as reasonably
  possible.
</p>

<p>
  For example, you should consider this approach for a networked app that displays data from
  user-initiated network requests as the primary content on the screen. When the user opens this
  screen the first time, the app should display a splash screen. Subsequent loads should initially
  load with the data that was cached from the last network request. The screen reloads with
  new data once the network request is complete.
</p>

<p>
  To learn about caching, watch the video. To implement caching in your app, see <a href=
  "{@docRoot}training/efficient-downloads/redundant_redundant.html#LocalCache">Cache Files
  Locally</a>.
</p>


<h2 id="pre-fetch">Optimize Pre-Fetch Cache Size</h2>

<p>
  Optimize pre-fetch cache size based on local file system size and current network connectivity.
  You can use the connectivity manager to determine what type of networks (Wi-FI, LTE, HSPAP, EDGE,
  GPRS) are active and modify your pre-fetching routines to minimize battery load.
</p>

<p>
  For more information, see
  <a href="{@docRoot}training/efficient-downloads/connectivity_patterns.html#Bandwidth">Use
  Modifying your Download Patterns Based on the Connectivity Type</a>.
</p>