How to Open Parquet file on Windows & MacOS Effortlessly?

With the Parquet files, management and analysis of big data has become much easier. However, the users often encounter questions like how to open Parquet file on Windows or Mac operating systems. In this article, we will learn the best ways on how .parquet files can be opened and accessed on the native platforms using online tools and a professional approach. 

So let’s dive into the details on the .parquet files and learn why they are difficult to access for the users. 

What makes Parquet Inaccessible on Windows and MacOS?

When we talk about the .parquet files, we are aware to why they are used. But, the question that usually occurs in the user’s mind is whether .parquet file is human-readable or not. Similarly, when they need to open these files on their native operating systems, they might encounter various issues with the same task. Many reasons restrict these files from opening on Windows and Mac OS. Let’s take a look at some of these reasons and learn how they can be resolved to make the files easily accessible on the given operating systems.

• The first reason is that neither Windows and MacOS do not have a native or built-in Parquet reader available. This makes it difficult to open the files on their devices when needed. 
• The next common cause is the structure of these files. The .parquet files are generally encoded and further store the data in binary language. Hence, without decoding these files, users cannot simply open or read these files in Windows or Mac. 
• Parquet files are primarily designed for various analytics and data processing engines, such as AWS Athena, Google BigQuery, Azure Synapse Analytics, and Snowflake. The structure and design of these files are intended for machines, not end-users. 
• The spreadsheet tools like Google Sheets and Excel do not support these files directly, making it necessary for users to convert them to a readable and accessible format first. 

These are some of the common reasons that restrict users from accessing the .parquet files and further trouble them with the doubt how to open Parquet file in Windows or Mac. To understand the issue better, we will now take a look at the challenges that users encounter while dealing with these files. 

Challenges with Parquet File Inaccessibility on Native OS

Below are the challenges that affect and disrupts the user workflow due to unreadability of the files:

• Due to the unavailability of the built – in file readers, users can’t read or open the .parquet file on Windows or Mac devices. 
• The .parquet files are created in Apache. Therefore, they are dependent on the environment for accessibility and other desired operations. Now, this makes it difficult for the users to read the files. 
• The .parquet file uses different compression modes for data manageability. Most of the time, the native file readers do not support these compression codecs, which can further cause issues.
• Parquet file data is mainly structured and complex. Due to the nested structure of the files, the data cannot be interpreted without appropriate tools. 
• In case a .parquet file was created on a Linux platform, it might end up behaving differently on operating systems like Windows and MacOS. 

These are the challenges that affect users’ workflow and disrupt their day-to-day tasks. Now, to make it easier for the users to open .parquet files on the desired operating systems or devices, we will take a look at the methods one by one. 

How to Open Parquet file in Windows & MacOS Manually? Method Explained

There are not many ways that allow users to read the .parquet files and access them as needed. However, the most common method, which includes accessing or reading the files manually, is the online approach. Users often find it more convenient to use an online tool for the task. But, with the ease it offers, there are various risks that come along. Here are some of these reasons why not to go for the online tools: 

• The most common risk associated with the online tools is the security and privacy concerns. Submitting the .parquet files to online reader tools simply means giving access to third-party tools for users’ sensitive and crucial data. This can risk the data being exposed to untrusted sources.
• After adding the data to the online sites, users might lose control and access to their data. As the online tools never specify how long they will store the data, or if they will keep any copies. 
• The next risk is the limitations of the file size and feature support. Not all online tools support large .parquet files. Furthermore, the online tool often fails to support all the features or the nested structure of the Parquet files. 

These are some of the common risks to using the manual approach for data accessibility of Parquet files. In such cases, where anyone can mishandle the data, we suggest using a professional solution. So let’s now move to the next method to learn how to access these files without risking data security. 

How to Read Parquet file on Mac and Windows OS Professionally?

As we all know, the .parquet files are generally unreadable by humans. So to read or access them, it is important to first convert them to a readable file format and then run the desired operations. So, we will now take a look at how we can convert Parquet files to CSV using a professional tool and also learn how the tool works. The solution we recommend is the SysTools Parquet Converter Tool, a utility designed to convert the files easily to 10+ widely used file formats.

Let’s now take a look at the steps of this tool:

1. Install and run the tool. Click on Add Files to add the .parquet file to the software.
2. After adding the files, click on the Next button.
3. The tool offers several output options. Choose one file format as required.
4. Next, add the destination path to save the files. Click on the Export button to start the process.
5. After the conversion, the tool provides a complete report.

These are the quick and easy steps that allow users to resolve their how to open parquet file query and further process the data in their Windows and Mac operating systems to ensure healthy file processing. By following these methods, users can read and access their desired .parquet files in a much easier and less complicated way. 

Conclusion

Through this thorough guide, we have discussed how to open Parquet file query for the users. Now, accessing these files is already pretty challenging for the users, but when it comes to opening the files through Windows and Mac, the users often encounter bigger challenges. The explanation of challenges the users might encounter and how to resolve these issues is also in this guide. To ease the process for the users, we have also suggested a professional approach to resolve the issue and read the files effortlessly on Windows and Mac devices.