When to use .NET BufferedStream class?

.net performance buffer
Jader Dias picture Jader Dias · Jan 29, 2009 · Viewed 35.4k times · Source

The MSDN site states:

A buffer is a block of bytes in memory used to cache data, thereby reducing the number of calls to the operating system. Buffers improve read and write performance. A buffer can be used for either reading or writing, but never both simultaneously. The Read and Write methods of BufferedStream automatically maintain the buffer.

Should I use this class in every possible occasion?

Answer

dewald picture dewald · Jan 15, 2010

According to Brad Abrams, almost never: link

No, there is zero benefit from wrapping a BufferedStream around a FileStream. We copied BufferedStream’s buffering logic into FileStream about 4 years ago to encourage better default performance... In fact, I don’t think there are any Streams in the .NET Framework that require it, but it might be needed by custom Stream implementations if they do not do buffering by default.

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