How should items be persisted in source control according to best practices?

Persisting items in source control by serializing them is aligned with best practices because serialization converts complex data structures, such as Sitecore items, into a format that can be easily stored and transferred. This process maintains the structure and integrity of the data, ensuring that all item fields and relationships are preserved effectively. When items are serialized, they can be easily compared, versioned, and merged, which is essential for collaborative development environments.

This method also allows for consistent and reproducible deployments since serialized items can be restored to their original structure when deserialized. It facilitates changes to be tracked over time, making it easier to manage different versions of items and revert to previous states if necessary.

In a typical Sitecore development environment, serialized files are often stored in the version control system, making it easier for multiple developers to work on the same project without conflicts, while ensuring all changes are properly documented.

The other approaches, while they may be useful in specific contexts, do not align with the established best practices for version control in development environments. Encrypting items adds unnecessary complexity for versioning purposes, compressing items may cause loss of the necessary structure for changes to be tracked, and manually reviewing each item can be impractical and inefficient in projects involving a large number