Techniques related to binary encoding of hierarchical data objects to support efficient path navigation of the hierarchical data objects are disclosed. A hierarchical data object may include field names that are associated with field values. A method may involve generating a plurality of hash codes, each hash code corresponding to a respective field name. The method may involve generating a hash-code mapping that maps each hash code to a respective field-name identifier. The method may involve generating a field-name mapping that maps each field name to a respective field-name identifier. The method may involve generating a hierarchical tree of nodes that includes non-leaf nodes and leaf nodes. A particular non-leaf node may include a child node mapping that maps the particular non-leaf node to one or more child nodes and may include a field-name-identifier-to-child mapping that maps a respective field-name identifier to each of the one or more child nodes.