The two versions of Parquet
20 days ago
- #Data Engineering
- #File Formats
- #Parquet
- Query engines and tools in the ecosystem are hindering the evolution of the Parquet file format by not fully supporting the latest specification.
- Parquet Version 2 is not fully implemented across the ecosystem, leading to compatibility issues with tools like Pandas in Python.
- The specification includes two evolving concepts: efficient encoding of column values and optimized data page structure (Data Page V2).
- New logical types in Parquet, such as VARIANT, are not tied to a specific format version, adding complexity to adoption.
- Machine Learning demands have led to new formats like Nimble and LV2, though Parquet remains dominant in data engineering.
- Performance tests show Parquet Version 2 improves file size and processing times, though gains vary by dataset and compression algorithm.
- Adoption of Version 2 is low due to ecosystem compatibility concerns, but it may be beneficial for controlled environments.