diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 10f8b1ede9..7da02ca79f 100644
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -675,6 +675,7 @@ set(SOURCES
         db/version_set.cc
         db/wal_edit.cc
         db/wal_manager.cc
+        db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc
         db/write_batch.cc
         db/write_batch_base.cc
         db/write_controller.cc
@@ -1294,6 +1295,7 @@ if(WITH_TESTS)
         db/version_set_test.cc
         db/wal_manager_test.cc
         db/wal_edit_test.cc
+        db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc
         db/write_batch_test.cc
         db/write_callback_test.cc
         db/write_controller_test.cc
diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 20c78edba5..6e288c0d86 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -1902,6 +1902,10 @@ db_basic_bench: $(OBJ_DIR)/microbench/db_basic_bench.o $(LIBRARY)
 
 cache_reservation_manager_test: $(OBJ_DIR)/cache/cache_reservation_manager_test.o $(TEST_LIBRARY) $(LIBRARY)
 	$(AM_LINK)
+
+wide_column_serialization_test: $(OBJ_DIR)/db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.o $(TEST_LIBRARY) $(LIBRARY)
+	$(AM_LINK)
+
 #-------------------------------------------------
 # make install related stuff
 PREFIX ?= /usr/local
diff --git a/TARGETS b/TARGETS
index 24a88eca98..827d0d17aa 100644
--- a/TARGETS
+++ b/TARGETS
@@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ cpp_library_wrapper(name="rocksdb_lib", srcs=[
         "db/version_set.cc",
         "db/wal_edit.cc",
         "db/wal_manager.cc",
+        "db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc",
         "db/write_batch.cc",
         "db/write_batch_base.cc",
         "db/write_controller.cc",
@@ -419,6 +420,7 @@ cpp_library_wrapper(name="rocksdb_whole_archive_lib", srcs=[
         "db/version_set.cc",
         "db/wal_edit.cc",
         "db/wal_manager.cc",
+        "db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc",
         "db/write_batch.cc",
         "db/write_batch_base.cc",
         "db/write_controller.cc",
@@ -5814,6 +5816,12 @@ cpp_unittest_wrapper(name="wal_manager_test",
             extra_compiler_flags=[])
 
 
+cpp_unittest_wrapper(name="wide_column_serialization_test",
+            srcs=["db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc"],
+            deps=[":rocksdb_test_lib"],
+            extra_compiler_flags=[])
+
+
 cpp_unittest_wrapper(name="work_queue_test",
             srcs=["util/work_queue_test.cc"],
             deps=[":rocksdb_test_lib"],
diff --git a/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..f44b81e2cb
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,141 @@
+//  Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+//  This source code is licensed under both the GPLv2 (found in the
+//  COPYING file in the root directory) and Apache 2.0 License
+//  (found in the LICENSE.Apache file in the root directory).
+
+#include "db/wide/wide_column_serialization.h"
+
+#include <algorithm>
+#include <cassert>
+#include <limits>
+
+#include "rocksdb/slice.h"
+#include "util/autovector.h"
+#include "util/coding.h"
+
+namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
+
+Status WideColumnSerialization::Serialize(const WideColumns& columns,
+                                          std::string& output) {
+  // Column names should be strictly ascending
+  assert(std::adjacent_find(columns.cbegin(), columns.cend(),
+                            [](const WideColumn& lhs, const WideColumn& rhs) {
+                              return lhs.name().compare(rhs.name()) > 0;
+                            }) == columns.cend());
+
+  if (columns.size() >
+      static_cast<size_t>(std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max())) {
+    return Status::InvalidArgument("Too many wide columns");
+  }
+
+  PutVarint32(&output, kCurrentVersion);
+
+  PutVarint32(&output, static_cast<uint32_t>(columns.size()));
+
+  for (const auto& column : columns) {
+    const Slice& name = column.name();
+    if (name.size() >
+        static_cast<size_t>(std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max())) {
+      return Status::InvalidArgument("Wide column name too long");
+    }
+
+    const Slice& value = column.value();
+    if (value.size() >
+        static_cast<size_t>(std::numeric_limits<uint32_t>::max())) {
+      return Status::InvalidArgument("Wide column value too long");
+    }
+
+    PutLengthPrefixedSlice(&output, name);
+    PutVarint32(&output, static_cast<uint32_t>(value.size()));
+  }
+
+  for (const auto& column : columns) {
+    const Slice& value = column.value();
+
+    output.append(value.data(), value.size());
+  }
+
+  return Status::OK();
+}
+
+Status WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(Slice& input,
+                                            WideColumns& columns) {
+  assert(columns.empty());
+
+  uint32_t version = 0;
+  if (!GetVarint32(&input, &version)) {
+    return Status::Corruption("Error decoding wide column version");
+  }
+
+  if (version > kCurrentVersion) {
+    return Status::NotSupported("Unsupported wide column version");
+  }
+
+  uint32_t num_columns = 0;
+  if (!GetVarint32(&input, &num_columns)) {
+    return Status::Corruption("Error decoding number of wide columns");
+  }
+
+  if (!num_columns) {
+    return Status::OK();
+  }
+
+  columns.reserve(num_columns);
+
+  autovector<uint32_t, 16> column_value_sizes;
+  column_value_sizes.reserve(num_columns);
+
+  for (uint32_t i = 0; i < num_columns; ++i) {
+    Slice name;
+    if (!GetLengthPrefixedSlice(&input, &name)) {
+      return Status::Corruption("Error decoding wide column name");
+    }
+
+    if (!columns.empty() && columns.back().name().compare(name) >= 0) {
+      return Status::Corruption("Wide columns out of order");
+    }
+
+    columns.emplace_back(name, Slice());
+
+    uint32_t value_size = 0;
+    if (!GetVarint32(&input, &value_size)) {
+      return Status::Corruption("Error decoding wide column value size");
+    }
+
+    column_value_sizes.emplace_back(value_size);
+  }
+
+  const Slice data(input);
+  size_t pos = 0;
+
+  for (uint32_t i = 0; i < num_columns; ++i) {
+    const uint32_t value_size = column_value_sizes[i];
+
+    if (pos + value_size > data.size()) {
+      return Status::Corruption("Error decoding wide column value payload");
+    }
+
+    columns[i].value() = Slice(data.data() + pos, value_size);
+
+    pos += value_size;
+  }
+
+  return Status::OK();
+}
+
+WideColumns::const_iterator WideColumnSerialization::Find(
+    const WideColumns& columns, const Slice& column_name) {
+  const auto it =
+      std::lower_bound(columns.cbegin(), columns.cend(), column_name,
+                       [](const WideColumn& lhs, const Slice& rhs) {
+                         return lhs.name().compare(rhs) < 0;
+                       });
+
+  if (it == columns.cend() || it->name() != column_name) {
+    return columns.cend();
+  }
+
+  return it;
+}
+
+}  // namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE
diff --git a/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.h b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..67b771e769
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization.h
@@ -0,0 +1,55 @@
+//  Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+//  This source code is licensed under both the GPLv2 (found in the
+//  COPYING file in the root directory) and Apache 2.0 License
+//  (found in the LICENSE.Apache file in the root directory).
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <cstdint>
+#include <string>
+
+#include "rocksdb/rocksdb_namespace.h"
+#include "rocksdb/status.h"
+#include "rocksdb/wide_columns.h"
+
+namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
+
+class Slice;
+
+// Wide-column serialization/deserialization primitives.
+//
+// The two main parts of the layout are 1) a sorted index containing the column
+// names and column value sizes and 2) the column values themselves. Keeping the
+// index and the values separate will enable selectively reading column values
+// down the line. Note that currently the index has to be fully parsed in order
+// to find out the offset of each column value.
+//
+// Legend: cn = column name, cv = column value, cns = column name size, cvs =
+// column value size.
+//
+//      +----------+--------------+----------+-------+----------+---...
+//      | version  | # of columns |  cns 1   | cn 1  |  cvs 1   |
+//      +----------+--------------+------------------+--------- +---...
+//      | varint32 |   varint32   | varint32 | bytes | varint32 |
+//      +----------+--------------+----------+-------+----------+---...
+//
+//      ... continued ...
+//
+//          ...---+----------+-------+----------+-------+---...---+-------+
+//                |  cns N   | cn N  |  cvs N   | cv 1  |         | cv N  |
+//          ...---+----------+-------+----------+-------+---...---+-------+
+//                | varint32 | bytes | varint32 | bytes |         | bytes |
+//          ...---+----------+-------+----------+-------+---...---+-------+
+
+class WideColumnSerialization {
+ public:
+  static Status Serialize(const WideColumns& columns, std::string& output);
+  static Status Deserialize(Slice& input, WideColumns& columns);
+
+  static WideColumns::const_iterator Find(const WideColumns& columns,
+                                          const Slice& column_name);
+
+  static constexpr uint32_t kCurrentVersion = 1;
+};
+
+}  // namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE
diff --git a/db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..8421a8f61d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc
@@ -0,0 +1,292 @@
+//  Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+//  This source code is licensed under both the GPLv2 (found in the
+//  COPYING file in the root directory) and Apache 2.0 License
+//  (found in the LICENSE.Apache file in the root directory).
+
+#include "db/wide/wide_column_serialization.h"
+
+#include "test_util/testharness.h"
+#include "util/coding.h"
+
+namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, Construct) {
+  constexpr char foo[] = "foo";
+  constexpr char bar[] = "bar";
+
+  const std::string foo_str(foo);
+  const std::string bar_str(bar);
+
+  const Slice foo_slice(foo_str);
+  const Slice bar_slice(bar_str);
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo, bar);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_str, bar);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_slice, bar);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo, bar_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_str);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_str, bar_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_str);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_slice, bar_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_str);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo, bar_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_slice);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_str, bar_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_str);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_slice);
+  }
+
+  {
+    WideColumn column(foo_slice, bar_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo_slice);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar_slice);
+  }
+
+  {
+    constexpr char foo_name[] = "foo_name";
+    constexpr char bar_value[] = "bar_value";
+
+    WideColumn column(std::piecewise_construct,
+                      std::forward_as_tuple(foo_name, sizeof(foo) - 1),
+                      std::forward_as_tuple(bar_value, sizeof(bar) - 1));
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.name(), foo);
+    ASSERT_EQ(column.value(), bar);
+  }
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, SerializeDeserialize) {
+  WideColumns columns{{"foo", "bar"}, {"hello", "world"}};
+  std::string output;
+
+  ASSERT_OK(WideColumnSerialization::Serialize(columns, output));
+
+  Slice input(output);
+  WideColumns deserialized_columns;
+
+  ASSERT_OK(WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, deserialized_columns));
+  ASSERT_EQ(columns, deserialized_columns);
+
+  {
+    const auto it = WideColumnSerialization::Find(deserialized_columns, "foo");
+    ASSERT_NE(it, deserialized_columns.cend());
+    ASSERT_EQ(*it, deserialized_columns.front());
+  }
+
+  {
+    const auto it =
+        WideColumnSerialization::Find(deserialized_columns, "hello");
+    ASSERT_NE(it, deserialized_columns.cend());
+    ASSERT_EQ(*it, deserialized_columns.back());
+  }
+
+  {
+    const auto it =
+        WideColumnSerialization::Find(deserialized_columns, "fubar");
+    ASSERT_EQ(it, deserialized_columns.cend());
+  }
+
+  {
+    const auto it =
+        WideColumnSerialization::Find(deserialized_columns, "snafu");
+    ASSERT_EQ(it, deserialized_columns.cend());
+  }
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, DeserializeVersionError) {
+  // Can't decode version
+
+  std::string buf;
+
+  Slice input(buf);
+  WideColumns columns;
+
+  const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+  ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "version"));
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, DeserializeUnsupportedVersion) {
+  // Unsupported version
+  constexpr uint32_t future_version = 1000;
+
+  std::string buf;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, future_version);
+
+  Slice input(buf);
+  WideColumns columns;
+
+  const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsNotSupported());
+  ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "version"));
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, DeserializeNumberOfColumnsError) {
+  // Can't decode number of columns
+
+  std::string buf;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, WideColumnSerialization::kCurrentVersion);
+
+  Slice input(buf);
+  WideColumns columns;
+
+  const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+  ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "number"));
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, DeserializeColumnsError) {
+  std::string buf;
+
+  PutVarint32(&buf, WideColumnSerialization::kCurrentVersion);
+
+  constexpr uint32_t num_columns = 2;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, num_columns);
+
+  // Can't decode the first column name
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "name"));
+  }
+
+  constexpr char first_column_name[] = "foo";
+  PutLengthPrefixedSlice(&buf, first_column_name);
+
+  // Can't decode the size of the first column value
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "value size"));
+  }
+
+  constexpr uint32_t first_value_size = 16;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, first_value_size);
+
+  // Can't decode the second column name
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "name"));
+  }
+
+  constexpr char second_column_name[] = "hello";
+  PutLengthPrefixedSlice(&buf, second_column_name);
+
+  // Can't decode the size of the second column value
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "value size"));
+  }
+
+  constexpr uint32_t second_value_size = 64;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, second_value_size);
+
+  // Can't decode the payload of the first column
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "payload"));
+  }
+
+  buf.append(first_value_size, '0');
+
+  // Can't decode the payload of the second column
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+    ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+    ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "payload"));
+  }
+
+  buf.append(second_value_size, 'x');
+
+  // Success
+  {
+    Slice input(buf);
+    WideColumns columns;
+
+    ASSERT_OK(WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns));
+  }
+}
+
+TEST(WideColumnSerializationTest, DeserializeColumnsOutOfOrder) {
+  std::string buf;
+
+  PutVarint32(&buf, WideColumnSerialization::kCurrentVersion);
+
+  constexpr uint32_t num_columns = 2;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, num_columns);
+
+  constexpr char first_column_name[] = "b";
+  PutLengthPrefixedSlice(&buf, first_column_name);
+
+  constexpr uint32_t first_value_size = 16;
+  PutVarint32(&buf, first_value_size);
+
+  constexpr char second_column_name[] = "a";
+  PutLengthPrefixedSlice(&buf, second_column_name);
+
+  Slice input(buf);
+  WideColumns columns;
+
+  const Status s = WideColumnSerialization::Deserialize(input, columns);
+  ASSERT_TRUE(s.IsCorruption());
+  ASSERT_TRUE(std::strstr(s.getState(), "order"));
+}
+
+}  // namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE
+
+int main(int argc, char** argv) {
+  ::testing::InitGoogleTest(&argc, argv);
+  return RUN_ALL_TESTS();
+}
diff --git a/include/rocksdb/wide_columns.h b/include/rocksdb/wide_columns.h
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1974a6951c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/include/rocksdb/wide_columns.h
@@ -0,0 +1,74 @@
+//  Copyright (c) Meta Platforms, Inc. and affiliates.
+//  This source code is licensed under both the GPLv2 (found in the
+//  COPYING file in the root directory) and Apache 2.0 License
+//  (found in the LICENSE.Apache file in the root directory).
+
+#pragma once
+
+#include <tuple>
+#include <utility>
+#include <vector>
+
+#include "rocksdb/rocksdb_namespace.h"
+#include "rocksdb/slice.h"
+
+namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE {
+
+// Class representing a wide column, which is defined as a pair of column name
+// and column value.
+class WideColumn {
+ public:
+  WideColumn() = default;
+
+  // Initializes a WideColumn object by forwarding the name and value
+  // arguments to the corresponding member Slices. This makes it possible to
+  // construct a WideColumn using combinations of const char*, const
+  // std::string&, const Slice& etc., for example:
+  //
+  // constexpr char foo[] = "foo";
+  // const std::string bar("bar");
+  // WideColumn column(foo, bar);
+  template <typename N, typename V>
+  WideColumn(N&& name, V&& value)
+      : name_(std::forward<N>(name)), value_(std::forward<V>(value)) {}
+
+  // Initializes a WideColumn object by forwarding the elements of
+  // name_tuple and value_tuple to the constructors of the corresponding member
+  // Slices. This makes it possible to initialize the Slices using the Slice
+  // constructors that take more than one argument, for example:
+  //
+  // constexpr char foo_name[] = "foo_name";
+  // constexpr char bar_value[] = "bar_value";
+  // WideColumn column(std::piecewise_construct,
+  //                   std::forward_as_tuple(foo_name, 3),
+  //                   std::forward_as_tuple(bar_value, 3));
+  template <typename NTuple, typename VTuple>
+  WideColumn(std::piecewise_construct_t, NTuple&& name_tuple,
+             VTuple&& value_tuple)
+      : name_(std::make_from_tuple<Slice>(std::forward<NTuple>(name_tuple))),
+        value_(std::make_from_tuple<Slice>(std::forward<VTuple>(value_tuple))) {
+  }
+
+  const Slice& name() const { return name_; }
+  const Slice& value() const { return value_; }
+
+  Slice& name() { return name_; }
+  Slice& value() { return value_; }
+
+ private:
+  Slice name_;
+  Slice value_;
+};
+
+// Note: column names and values are compared bytewise.
+inline bool operator==(const WideColumn& lhs, const WideColumn& rhs) {
+  return lhs.name() == rhs.name() && lhs.value() == rhs.value();
+}
+
+inline bool operator!=(const WideColumn& lhs, const WideColumn& rhs) {
+  return !(lhs == rhs);
+}
+
+using WideColumns = std::vector<WideColumn>;
+
+}  // namespace ROCKSDB_NAMESPACE
diff --git a/src.mk b/src.mk
index 08b911475a..0a77e7f469 100644
--- a/src.mk
+++ b/src.mk
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ LIB_SOURCES =                                                   \
   db/version_set.cc                                             \
   db/wal_edit.cc                                                \
   db/wal_manager.cc                                             \
+  db/wide/wide_column_serialization.cc                          \
   db/write_batch.cc                                             \
   db/write_batch_base.cc                                        \
   db/write_controller.cc                                        \
@@ -497,6 +498,7 @@ TEST_MAIN_SOURCES =                                                     \
   db/version_edit_test.cc                                               \
   db/version_set_test.cc                                                \
   db/wal_manager_test.cc                                                \
+  db/wide/wide_column_serialization_test.cc                             \
   db/write_batch_test.cc                                                \
   db/write_callback_test.cc                                             \
   db/write_controller_test.cc                                           \
diff --git a/util/autovector.h b/util/autovector.h
index 5bda2d2d10..22c9450d74 100644
--- a/util/autovector.h
+++ b/util/autovector.h
@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ class autovector : public std::vector<T> {
 // full-fledged generic container.
 //
 // Currently we don't support:
-//  * reserve()/shrink_to_fit()
+//  * shrink_to_fit()
 //     If used correctly, in most cases, people should not touch the
 //     underlying vector at all.
 //  * random insert()/erase(), please only use push_back()/pop_back().
@@ -223,6 +223,16 @@ class autovector {
 
   bool empty() const { return size() == 0; }
 
+  size_type capacity() const { return kSize + vect_.capacity(); }
+
+  void reserve(size_t cap) {
+    if (cap > kSize) {
+      vect_.reserve(cap - kSize);
+    }
+
+    assert(cap <= capacity());
+  }
+
   const_reference operator[](size_type n) const {
     assert(n < size());
     if (n < kSize) {