# Serialization

Converting Python objects into bytes so they can be sent to another machine. Large task arguments are serialized and copied to every worker that needs them.

Source: https://university.eugo.io/glossary/serialization

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A frequent hidden cost: passing a large object as an argument to many tasks can move more data than the computation saves.

## Related terms

- [Task](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/task) — One unit of distributed work: a single call to a function decorated with the distribute decorator. Tasks are stateless, so each call starts fresh.
- [Transfer cost](https://university.eugo.io/glossary/transfer-cost) — The time spent moving data between machines, or between host and GPU memory. Often the reason an operation is not worth accelerating.