What is a parquet file?

Parquet is a columnar storage file format optimized for use with data processing frameworks like Apache Hadoop and Apache Spark. Parquet files are structured to allow for fast retrieval and efficient storage, making them a popular choice in data-intensive environments.

What are parquet files good for?

The parquet file format allows you to achieve better performance, reduce storage costs, and have a more flexible approach to handling dynamic data.

Why are Parquet files more efficent?

Parquet files are highly efficient in terms of storage and query performance. The columnar format allows for better compression and encoding, reducing the size of the data significantly.

Can you open a parquet file in Excel?

Yes, you can try to open a parquet file in Excel, but you'll need to convert it to CSV first. However, the file still may be too big for Excel to handle.

Can you open a parquet file in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets does not natively support the parquet file format. To open a parquet file in Google Sheets, you first need to convert the parquet file to CSV. However, the file still may be too large for Google Sheets to handle.

Top 3 Ways to Open a Parquet File

Parquet files are great for storing and managing large datasets, but they can be a challenge to open. If you want to open a parquet file in Excel or Google Sheets, you’ll first need to convert it to a CSV. However, since parquet files tend to be large, you'll likely hit a row limit and the file won’t open correctly or will be very slow to work with. Fortunately, Row Zero offers a free and easy way to open and edit parquet files online. Row Zero is a blazing fast spreadsheet that can handle the biggest datasets, including big parquet files.

Open a Parquet File with Row Zero

There are a few ways to open a parquet file, depending on your needs and technical skills. Skip to specific sections using the links below or continue reading for the full guide.

Easiest way to open a parquet file: Row Zero
Convert parquet to CSV to open in Excel or Google Sheets
Open a parquet file using python
Alternative to parquet files: connect directly to your data source

1. Easiest way to open and edit a parquet file online

Row Zero lets you easily open and edit parquet files of any size. Here's how in 3 easy steps:

Open up a workbook in Row Zero
Row Zero is the world’s fastest spreadsheet and can handle massive data sets. Login or sign up for free to get started.
Import your parquet file: In the top navigation, click Data to import your parquet file directly from your computer, from a URL, or directly from Amazon S3.
View and edit your parquet file as a spreadsheet
Your parquet file is now a Row Zero spreadsheet, and you can do your favorite spreadsheet work like pivot tables, SUMIFS, XLOOKUP, graphing, joining, and more. Here's an example parquet file of all U.S. flights in 2018. It's 7.2 million rows and easily opens instantly.

2. Convert parquet files to CSVs to open in Excel or Google Sheets

Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets do not natively support uploading parquet files. To open a parquet file in Excel, you'll need to first convert the parquet file to a CSV. Here again, Row Zero makes it very easy. Simply upload your parquet file to Row Zero. Here you can make any edits or transformations and then can export your parquet file to CSV at any point by going to File, Download as CSV.

Note: Since parquet files tend to be very large, the converted CSV may be too large to open in Excel or Google Sheets. As a result, it may not open correctly or be very slow to work with. Conversely, you can keep the file in Row Zero, which supports 1+ billion row data sets and has the spreadsheet features you know and love.

3. Open a parquet file with Python

It's common for more technical folks to use Python to open a parquet file. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to open a Parquet file using Python:

Install Necessary Libraries: Ensure you have pandas and pyarrow (or fastparquet) installed. You can install them using pip:
```
pip install pandas pyarrow
```

Read the Parquet File: Using pandas, you can read a Parquet file into a DataFrame as follows:

import pandas as pd

# Replace 'your_file.parquet' with the path to your Parquet file
df = pd.read_parquet('your_file.parquet')
print(df.head())

This simple approach leverages the pyarrow library by default to handle the Parquet file.

4. Alternative to parquet files: connect directly to your data source

If your parquet file is a download or extract from a data warehouse, you can connect a Row Zero spreadsheet directly to your data warehouse, including Snowflake, Databricks, Redshift, Postgres, and S3 in a few easy steps. By directly connecting your spreadsheet to a data warehouse, you can build a model or analysis that is refreshable when new data reaches the database. You can also easily export the data back to your data warehouse after you've done any editing or transformations.

Conclusion

Parquet files offer a robust, efficient, and versatile solution for managing large-scale data. Their columnar format, combined with the ability to handle schema evolution and compatibility with various big data tools, makes them an invaluable asset in data-intensive environments. Row Zero offers an easy way to open parquet files online and edit them directly in a spreadsheet. Ready to get started?