# Specialized Data Formats

## Overview

You can use several types of specialized data formats in your PyMongo application. To learn how to work with these data formats, see the following sections:

- Learn how to encode and decode custom types in the Custom Types guide.

- Learn how to work with Python `datetime` objects in PyMongo in the Dates and Times guide.

- Learn about UUIDs and how to maintain cross-language compatibility while working with them in the Universally Unique IDs (UUIDs) guide.

