# Let Me Speak Freely? A Study on the Impact of Format Restrictions on Performance of Large Language Models

*Source* · `src-tam-2024-let-me-speak-freely` · status: **n/a**

| field | value |
|---|---|
| kind | Preprint |
| authors | Zhi Rui Tam, Cheng-Kuang Wu, Yi-Lin Tsai, Chieh-Yen Lin, Hung-yi Lee, Yun-Nung Chen |
| venue | arXiv |
| date | 2024-08-05 |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.02442 |
| arxiv | 2408.02442 |
| accessed | 2026-10-24 |
| notes | Requiring structured output such as JSON or XML significantly weakens reasoning compared with free-form responses; stricter formats cause larger drops. |

## Backlinks (computed)

**cited by:** [Grammar-constrained decoding for valid game actions](../technique/constrained-decoding.md)

## Citation

Zhi Rui Tam, Cheng-Kuang Wu, Yi-Lin Tsai, Chieh-Yen Lin, Hung-yi Lee, Yun-Nung Chen (2024-08-05). *Let Me Speak Freely? A Study on the Impact of Format Restrictions on Performance of Large Language Models*. arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/2408.02442

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Provenance: created in run `2026-10-24-techniques-llm-agents`.