{'juanjo': 2, 'pedro':99, 'other': 333}

wget https://gist.github.com/jdimatteo/af317ef24ccf1b3fa91f4399902bb534/raw/03e8dbab11b5605bc572bc117c8ac34cfa959a70/pickle_vs_json.py
python pickle_vs_json.py

Dir Entries Method  Time    Length

dump    10  JSON    0.017   1484510
load    10  JSON    0.375   -
dump    10  Pickle  0.011   1428790
load    10  Pickle  0.098   -
dump    20  JSON    0.036   2969020
load    20  JSON    1.498   -
dump    20  Pickle  0.022   2857580
load    20  Pickle  0.394   -
dump    50  JSON    0.079   7422550
load    50  JSON    9.485   -
dump    50  Pickle  0.055   7143950
load    50  Pickle  2.518   -
dump    100 JSON    0.165   14845100
load    100 JSON    37.730  -
dump    100 Pickle  0.107   14287900
load    100 Pickle  9.907   -

import msgpack
import json
import pickle
import timeit
import cPickle
import numpy as np

num_tests = 10

obj = np.random.normal(0.5, 1, [240, 320, 3])

command = 'pickle.dumps(obj)'
setup = 'from __main__ import pickle, obj'
result = timeit.timeit(command, setup=setup, number=num_tests)
print("pickle:  %f seconds" % result)

command = 'cPickle.dumps(obj)'
setup = 'from __main__ import cPickle, obj'
result = timeit.timeit(command, setup=setup, number=num_tests)
print("cPickle:   %f seconds" % result)


command = 'cPickle.dumps(obj, protocol=cPickle.HIGHEST_PROTOCOL)'
setup = 'from __main__ import cPickle, obj'
result = timeit.timeit(command, setup=setup, number=num_tests)
print("cPickle highest:   %f seconds" % result)

command = 'json.dumps(obj.tolist())'
setup = 'from __main__ import json, obj'
result = timeit.timeit(command, setup=setup, number=num_tests)
print("json:   %f seconds" % result)


command = 'msgpack.packb(obj.tolist())'
setup = 'from __main__ import msgpack, obj'
result = timeit.timeit(command, setup=setup, number=num_tests)
print("msgpack:   %f seconds" % result)

pickle         :   0.847938 seconds
cPickle        :   0.810384 seconds
cPickle highest:   0.004283 seconds
json           :   1.769215 seconds
msgpack        :   0.270886 seconds