The present disclosure describes methods, systems, and computer program products for serializing data for data transfer. One computer-implemented method includes analyzing a column of data stored in the first database to determine at least one serialization parameter, the at least one serialization parameter comprises a repetition counter, a replication counter, or a variable type; determining a data serialization scheme associated with the data based on at least one of the repetition count or the replication counter; determining a variable serialization scheme associated with the data based on the variable type; repeating the analyzing, the determining of the data serialization scheme, and the determining of the variable serialization scheme; serializing the data stored in the first database using the data serialization scheme associated with the data and the variable serialization scheme associated with the data; and transferring the serialized data to the second database.