Snowflake SnowPro Certification Practice Test

What compression type does Snowflake automatically apply to newly loaded files?

1. Zip

2. Gzip

3. Bzip2

4. LZ4

The correct answer is: Gzip

Snowflake automatically applies Gzip compression to newly loaded files due to its efficiency in balancing the speed of data processing and the compression ratio. Gzip is designed to compress files quickly while maintaining a satisfactory compression ratio, making it suitable for handling large datasets typical in data warehousing scenarios. This compression method reduces storage costs and improves the performance of data transfers when querying and processing data. Other compression methods like Zip or Bzip2 might offer different performance characteristics, but Snowflake specifically optimizes for Gzip, which is widely supported and recognized for its performance in large-scale environments. LZ4, while efficient for certain types of data and promising very fast decompression times, is not the default compression algorithm that Snowflake applies for newly loaded files. This choice helps Snowflake balance the needs of users for both speed and effective storage management.