Semi-Structured Data in Apache Iceberg: Meet the Variant Type

Semi-structured data, such as JSON-like documents whose fields differ from row to row, has always been a poor fit for table formats built around fixed schemas. Iceberg v3 adds the Variant type for exactly this data: a single column can hold values of arbitrary, evolving shape, stored in a compact binary form that engines read and write consistently. This is the first post in a series on Variant in Apache Iceberg.