Which operation consolidates small Parquet files into larger ones?

Which operation consolidates small Parquet files into larger ones?

• A. VACUUM
• B. V-ORDER
• C. OPTIMIZE
• D. lakehouse shortcuts

Answer: (C)

Consolidating small Parquet files into larger ones is achieved by an optimize operation. In data lakes, lots of tiny files create overhead from metadata and many file opens, which can slow queries. The optimize process rewrites existing data into fewer, larger Parquet files, improving scan efficiency and reducing metadata load. It can also be used in conjunction with clustering (for example, V-ORDER) to further speed up range-filter queries, but the actual file-size consolidation comes from optimize. Vacuum, by contrast, removes old or unnecessary files rather than combining them, and lakehouse shortcuts isn’t a standard operation for this purpose.

Consolidating small Parquet files into larger ones is achieved by an optimize operation. In data lakes, lots of tiny files create overhead from metadata and many file opens, which can slow queries. The optimize process rewrites existing data into fewer, larger Parquet files, improving scan efficiency and reducing metadata load. It can also be used in conjunction with clustering (for example, V-ORDER) to further speed up range-filter queries, but the actual file-size consolidation comes from optimize. Vacuum, by contrast, removes old or unnecessary files rather than combining them, and lakehouse shortcuts isn’t a standard operation for this purpose.