I have filed a ticket[1] in arrow-rs to track prototyping ALP in the Rust
Parquet reader if anyone is interested

Andrew

[1]:  https://github.com/apache/arrow-rs/issues/8748

On Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 1:33 PM Micah Kornfield <[email protected]>
wrote:

> >
> > C++, Java and Rust support them for sure. I feel like we should
> > probably default to V2 at some point.
>
>
> I seem to recall, some of the vectorized java readers (Iceberg, Spark)
> might not support V2 data pages (but I might be confusing this with
> encodings).  But this is only a vague recollection.
>
>
>
> On Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 6:38 AM Andrew Lamb <[email protected]>
> wrote:
>
> > > Someone has to add V2 data pages to
> > >
> >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/parquet-site/blob/production/content/en/docs/File%20Format/implementationstatus.md
> > > :)
> >
> > Your wish is my command: https://github.com/apache/parquet-site/pull/124
> >
> > As the format grows in popularity and momentum builds to evolve, I feel
> the
> > content on the parquet.apache.org site could use refreshing / updating.
> > So, while I had the site open, I made some other PRs to scratch various
> > itches
> >
> > (I am absolutely 🎣 for someone to please review 🙏):
> >
> > 1. Add Variant/Geometry/Geography types to implementation status matrix:
> > https://github.com/apache/parquet-site/pull/123
> > 2. Improve introduction / overview, add more links to spec and
> > implementation status: https://github.com/apache/parquet-site/pull/125
> >
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Andrew
> >
> > On Wed, Oct 22, 2025 at 4:09 AM Antoine Pitrou <[email protected]>
> wrote:
> >
> > >
> > > Hi Julien, hi all,
> > >
> > > On Mon, 20 Oct 2025 15:14:58 -0700
> > > Julien Le Dem <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Another question from me:
> > > >
> > > > Since the goal is to not use compression at all in this case (no
> ZSTD)
> > > > I'm assuming we would be using either:
> > > > - the Data Page V1 with UNCOMPRESSED in the ColumnMetadata.column
> > > > <
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/blob/786142e26740487930ddc3ec5e39d780bd930907/src/main/thrift/parquet.thrift#L887
> > > >
> > > > field.
> > > > - the Data Page V2 with false in the DataPageHeaderV2.is_compressed
> > > > <
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/parquet-format/blob/786142e26740487930ddc3ec5e39d780bd930907/src/main/thrift/parquet.thrift#L746
> > > >
> > > > field
> > > > The second helping decide if we can selectively compress some pages
> if
> > > they
> > > > are less compressed by the
> > > > A few years ago there was a question on the support of the
> DATA_PAGE_V2
> > > and
> > > > I was curious to hear a refresh on how that's generally supported in
> > > > Parquet implementations. The is_compressed field was exactly intended
> > to
> > > > avoid block compression when the encoding itself is good enough.
> > >
> > > Someone has to add V2 data pages to
> > >
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/apache/parquet-site/blob/production/content/en/docs/File%20Format/implementationstatus.md
> > > :)
> > >
> > > C++, Java and Rust support them for sure. I feel like we should
> > > probably default to V2 at some point.
> > >
> > > Also see https://github.com/apache/parquet-java/issues/3344 for Java.
> > >
> > > Regards
> > >
> > > Antoine.
> > >
> > >
> > > >
> > > > Julien
> > > >
> > > > On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 11:57 AM Andrew Lamb
> > > <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > Thanks again Prateek and co for pushing this along!
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > > 1. Design and write our own Parquet-ALP spec so that
> > implementations
> > > > > > know exactly how to encode and represent data
> > > > >
> > > > > 100% agree with this (similar to what was done for ParquetVariant)
> > > > >
> > > > > > 2. I may be missing something, but the paper doesn't seem to
> > > mention
> > > > > non-finite values (such as +/-Inf and NaNs).
> > > > >
> > > > > I think they are handled via the "Exception" mechanism. Vortex's
> ALP
> > > > > implementation (below) does appear to handle finite numbers[2]
> > > > >
> > > > > > 3. It seems there is a single implementation, which is the one
> > > published
> > > > > > together with the paper. It is not obvious that it will be
> > > > > > maintained in the future, and reusing it is probably not an
> option
> > > for
> > > > > > non-C++ Parquet implementations
> > > > >
> > > > > My understanding from the call was that Prateek and team
> > re-implemented
> > > > > ALP  (did not use the implementation from CWI[3]) but that would be
> > > good to
> > > > > confirm.
> > > > >
> > > > > There is also a Rust implementation of ALP[1] that is part of the
> > > Vortex
> > > > > file format implementation. I have not reviewed it to see if it
> > > deviates
> > > > > from the algorithm presented in the paper.
> > > > >
> > > > > Andrew
> > > > >
> > > > > [1]:
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/vortex-data/vortex/blob/534821969201b91985a8735b23fc0c415a425a56/encodings/alp/src/lib.rs
> > > > > [2]:
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> >
> https://github.com/vortex-data/vortex/blob/534821969201b91985a8735b23fc0c415a425a56/encodings/alp/src/alp/compress.rs#L266-L281
> > > > > [3]: https://github.com/cwida/ALP
> > > > >
> > > > >
> > > > > On Mon, Oct 20, 2025 at 4:47 AM Antoine Pitrou
> > > <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Hello,
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Thanks for doing this and I agree the numbers look impressive.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I would ask if possible for more data points:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 1. More datasets: you could for example look at the datasets that
> > > were
> > > > > > used to originally evalute BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT (see
> > > > > > https://issues.apache.org/jira/browse/PARQUET-1622 and
> > specifically
> > > > > > the Google Doc linked there)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 2. Comparison to BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT + LZ4 and BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT +
> > ZSTD
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 3. Optionally, some perf numbers on x86 too, but I expect that
> ALP
> > > will
> > > > > > remain very good there as well
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > I also have the following reservations towards ALP:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 1. There is no published official spec AFAICT, just a research
> > paper.
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 2. I may be missing something, but the paper doesn't seem to
> > mention
> > > > > > non-finite values (such as +/-Inf and NaNs).
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 3. It seems there is a single implementation, which is the one
> > > published
> > > > > > together with the paper. It is not obvious that it will be
> > > > > > maintained in the future, and reusing it is probably not an
> option
> > > for
> > > > > > non-C++ Parquet implementations
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 4. The encoding itself is complex, since it involves a fallback
> on
> > > > > > another encoding if the primary encoding (which constitutes the
> > real
> > > > > > innovation) doesn't work out on a piece of data.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Based on this, I would say that if we think ALP is attractive for
> > us,
> > > > > > we may want to incorporate our own version of ALP with the
> > following
> > > > > > changes:
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 1. Design and write our own Parquet-ALP spec so that
> > implementations
> > > > > > know exactly how to encode and represent data
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 2. Do not include the ALPrd fallback which is a homegrown
> > dictionary
> > > > > > encoding without dictionary reuse accross pages, and instead rely
> > on
> > > a
> > > > > > well-known Parquet encoding (such as BYTE_STREAM_SPLIT?)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > 3. Replace the FOR encoding inside ALP, which aims at compressing
> > > > > > integers efficiently, with our own DELTA_BINARY_PACKED (which has
> > the
> > > > > > same qualities and is already available in Parquet
> implementations)
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Regards
> > > > > >
> > > > > > Antoine.
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > > On Thu, 16 Oct 2025 14:47:33 -0700
> > > > > > PRATEEK GAUR <[email protected]> wrote:
> > > > > > > Hi team,
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > We spent some time evaluating ALP compression and decompression
> > > > > compared
> > > > > > to
> > > > > > > other encoding alternatives like CHIMP/GORILLA and compression
> > > > > techniques
> > > > > > > like SNAPPY/LZ4/ZSTD. We presented these numbers to the
> community
> > > > > members
> > > > > > > on October 15th in the biweekly parquet meeting. ( I can't seem
> > > to
> > > > > access
> > > > > > > the recording, so please let me know what access rules I need
> to
> > > get to
> > > > > > be
> > > > > > > able to view it )
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > We did this evaluation over some datasets pointed by the ALP
> > paper
> > > and
> > > > > > some
> > > > > > > pointed by the parquet community.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > The results are available in the following document
> > > > > > > <
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> >
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlyUSfqCqPVwNt8XA-CfRqsbc0NKRG0Kk1FigEm3JOg/edit?tab=t.0
> > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > :
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > >
> >
> https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PlyUSfqCqPVwNt8XA-CfRqsbc0NKRG0Kk1FigEm3JOg
> > >
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Based on the numbers we see
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >    -  ALP is comparable to ZSTD(level=1) in terms of
> compression
> > > ratio
> > > > > > and
> > > > > > >    much better compared to other schemes. (numbers in the sheet
> > > are
> > > > > bytes
> > > > > > >    needed to encode each value )
> > > > > > >    - ALP going quite well in terms of decompression speed
> > (numbers
> > > in
> > > > > the
> > > > > > >    sheet are bytes decompressed per second)
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > As next steps we will
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > >    - Get the numbers for compression on top of byte stream
> split.
> > > > > > >    - Evaluate the algorithm over a few more datasets.
> > > > > > >    - Have an implementation in the arrow-parquet repo.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Looking forward to feedback from the community.
> > > > > > >
> > > > > > > Best
> > > > > > > Prateek and Dhirhan
> > > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > > >
> > > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
>

Reply via email to