Open table formats enable data lakehouse capabilities

Open table formats such as Apache Iceberg, Delta Lake, and Apache Hudi serve as metadata layers that provide structure to data stored in object storage. By sitting atop files like Parquet or ORC, these formats enable data lakes to function with the reliability of a data warehouse, offering features such as ACID transactions, schema evolution, and time travel.

Building a data lake on S3-compatible storage allows organizations to use low-cost object storage—including AWS S3, MinIO, or Cloudflare R2—as a neutral substrate. This architecture separates storage from compute, enabling various analytics engines like DuckDB, Spark, or Trino to query data in place without the need to move it into a proprietary warehouse. Using open file formats and S3-compatible APIs ensures that data remains accessible and portable across different tools and cloud providers.