Parquet Versus CSV

Discover the advantages of using Parquet over CSV file format. This article covers not only the concepts but provides detailed illustrative Python code to get you up to speed in embracing Parquet in your work flow.

What is Parquet

Parquet is an open-source, columnar storage file format designed for efficient data storage and retrieval. It was originally developed by Cloudera and Twitter to provide a more efficient way of storing data than traditional row-oriented formats like CSV.

As an experienced Database Infrastructure Engineer, Parquet makes me appreciate its features from big data, parallel processing and distributed computing perspective over CSV.

Features and Benefits

Here are some key features and benefits of Parquet:

1. Store Data in Columns instead of Rows

Unlike row-based formats like CSV, Parquet stores data in columns.

2. Reduces Storage

Column-based storage allows more effective compression. See Python code in the later section to demonstrate this feature.