Docs Self-Managed Manage Redpanda Console Deserialize Messages You are viewing the Self-Managed v24.3 beta documentation. We welcome your feedback at the Redpanda Community Slack #beta-feedback channel. To view the latest available version of the docs, see v24.2. View Deserialized Messages in Redpanda Console In Redpanda, the messages exchanged between producers and consumers contain raw bytes. Schemas work as an agreed-upon format, like a contract, for producers and consumers to serialize and deserialize those messages. If a producer breaks this contract, consumers can fail. Redpanda Console automatically tries to deserialize incoming messages and displays them in human-readable format. It tests different deserialization strategies until it finds one with no errors. If no deserialization attempts are successful, Redpanda Console renders the byte array in a hex viewer. Sometimes, the payload is displayed in hex bytes because it’s encrypted or because it uses a serializer that Redpanda Console cannot deserialize. When this happens, Redpanda Console displays troubleshooting information. You can also download the raw bytes of the message to feed it directly to your client deserializer or share it with a support team. All deserialized messages are rendered as JSON objects and can be used as JavaScript objects in JavaScript filters (push filters). Prerequisites Ensure that Redpanda Console is configured to handle the specific deserialization formats you plan to use, such as Avro, Protobuf, or MessagePack. Encoding formats that rely on external schemas or metadata may require additional configuration. See Configure Message Deserialization in Redpanda Console. Display messages in a specific format Redpanda Console tries to automatically identify the correct deserialization type by decoding the message’s key, value, or header with all available deserialization methods. To display your messages in another format: Open your topic. Click the cog icon. Click Deserialization. Choose a new deserializer for either the keys or values in your messages. Supported deserializers include: Plain text Kafka’s internal binary formats; for example, the __consumer_offsets topic JSON JSON with Schema Registry encoding Smile XML Avro with Schema Registry encoding Protobuf Protobuf with Schema Registry encoding Messagepack (for topics explicitly enabled to test MessagePack) UTF-8 / strings uint8, uint16, uint32, uint64 Suggested reading Redpanda Schema Registry Back to top × Simple online edits For simple changes, such as fixing a typo, you can edit the content directly on GitHub. Edit on GitHub Or, open an issue to let us know about something that you want us to change. Open an issue Contribution guide For extensive content updates, or if you prefer to work locally, read our contribution guide . Was this helpful? thumb_up thumb_down group Ask in the community mail Share your feedback group_add Make a contribution Filter Messages Edit Topic Configuration