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To address these use cases where avoiding the cost (CPU, memory, garbage collection overhead), this KIP proposes providing a `ByteArrayConverter` supporting ByteArrayConverter supporting only a single type to be converted to/from the Kafka Connect data API, much like the `ByteArraySerializer` ByteArraySerializer/`Deserializer` already Deserializer already provided for Java clients.

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The new public interface is a class implementing the `Converter` interface Converter interface that works only with `bytebyte[]` data data. The implementation is trivial enough to be included inline in the KIP:

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We propose adding the new `ByteArrayConverter` interface ByteArrayConverter interface. The implementation is trivial, but there are a few key characteristics worth noting:

• There should be no configuration values. None should be required since the data is being passed directly through to the Connector.
• When converting to the Connect data API, the schema is `SchemaSchema.OPTIONAL_BYTES_SCHEMA`SCHEMA. This provides support for `null` values null values so this `Converter` can Converter can be used with compacted topics.

Kafka Connect divides its classes into multiple jars; especially for the provided JSON converter this is done to allow removing the converter and all of its dependencies. This Converter will be added directly to the `runtime` jar runtime jar since it introduces no dependencies, is broadly useful, and doesn't warrant its own jar.

Compatibility, Deprecation, and Migration Plan

Adding `ByteArrayConverter` has ByteArrayConverter has no implications for existing classes, compatibility, deprecation, or migration.

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