🚀 𝐃𝐚𝐭𝐚 𝐄𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐫𝐬: 𝐋𝐞𝐭'𝐬 𝐃𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐨 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐓𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐬!
We all know how essential compression is for optimizing storage and boosting performance. But beyond the basics, there are some lesser-known details that can supercharge your data pipelines.
📦 𝐆𝐳𝐢𝐩, 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐲, 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐭, 𝐎𝐑𝐂 —these are household names in data compression, but did you know?
🔍 𝐁𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐢: Developed by Google, Brotli is a 𝐡𝐢𝐝𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐠𝐞𝐦 that offers 𝐮𝐩 𝐭𝐨 𝟑𝟎% 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐬 compared to Gzip. Originally designed for web content, it’s now finding its way into big data because of its 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐲. Brotli is particularly great for text-heavy data like JSON, making it a fantastic choice for web logs or semi-structured data storage.
🧠 𝐃𝐢𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: A feature of columnar formats like Parquet and ORC, dictionary encoding works by creating a reference table of unique values and replacing 𝐫𝐞𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 with shorter codes. This drastically reduces file sizes for categorical data (e.g., repeated strings or enum values). This is especially useful in datasets with high cardinality, where the same values appear many times over.
⚡ 𝐃𝐞𝐥𝐭𝐚 𝐄𝐧𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠: Perfect for 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞-𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 or datasets with numerical sequences. Instead of storing each individual value, delta encoding stores the 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐯𝐚𝐥𝐮𝐞𝐬. For example, in stock market data or sensor logs, where changes between readings are more important than the actual value, delta encoding slashes the storage needed while maintaining accuracy.
🗂️ 𝐙𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 (𝐙𝐬𝐭𝐝): One of the most versatile compression algorithms, Zstd offers a unique 𝐛𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨. It’s highly configurable, allowing you to 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞-𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐞 settings for either faster compression or higher density. Zstd is a great fit for high-velocity data pipelines where both 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐢𝐳𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫, like in ETL jobs or batch processing systems.
🤔 What’s your go-to compression trick for balancing speed, cost, and performance? Any hidden gems you've come across? Let’s elevate the conversation and learn from each other!
#DataEngineering #CompressionTechniques #BigData #DataOptimization #CloudData #ETL #DataPipelines #DataStorage #DataArchitecture #Hadoop #Spark
MSc Business Analytics @University of Nottingham || BI Consultant || Tableau Ambassador’23 || Power BI || SQL
3moVery informative