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What are the benefits and drawbacks of using compression encodings in Redshift?

SQLeasy0.5 min readPremium
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98 wordsInterview-ready
Redshift compression benefits: Reduced storage, less I/O, faster scans, lower cost. Encodings: AZ64, LZO, ZSTD, etc. Drawbacks: (1) CPU overhead for encode/decode—can slow writes. (2) Random access—compressed blocks must be decompressed. (3) Wrong encoding—poor choice can increase size (e.g., RLE on high-cardinality). Best practice: Use AUTO encoding for new tables; analyze ANALYZE COMPRESSION recommendations. Choose BYTEDICT for low-cardinality; DELTA for timestamps....
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