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Supported File Formats

This section contains information on the fie formats and compression schemes that are supported for input to and output of the Alteryx Analytics Cloud.

Note

To work with formats that are proprietary to a desktop application, such as Microsoft Excel, you do not need the supporting application installed on your desktop.

Filenames

Note

During import, the Cloud Portal identifies file formats based on the extension of the filename. If no extension is provided, the Cloud Portal assumes that the submitted file is a text file of some kind. Non-text file formats, such as Avro and Parquet, require filename extensions.

Note

Filenames that include special characters can cause problems during import or when publishing to a file-based datastore.

File path length limits

Maximum character limits for file paths:

  • File paths to sources for imported datasets: 1024

    Tip

    This limit (storagelocations) applies to both files and tables.

  • File paths to output files: 2048

    Tip

    This limit (writesettings) applies to files stored on any file-based storage location.

Forbidden characters in import filenames

The following list of characters present issues in the listed area of the product. If you encounter issues, the following listings may provide some guidance on where the issue occurred.

Tip

You should avoid using any of these characters in your import filenames. This list may not be complete for all available running environments.

  • General:

    "/"
  • Seb browser:

    "\"
  • Excel filenames:

    "#","{","}"
  • Spark-based running environment:

    "{", "*", "\"

Native Input File Formats

The Alteryx Analytics Cloud can read and import directly these file formats:

  • CSV

  • JSON v1, including nested

    Note

    JSON files can be read natively but often require additional work to properly structure into tabular format. Depending on how the Cloud Portal is configured (v1 or v2), JSON files may require conversion before they are available for use in the application. See "Converted file formats" below.

    Note

    The Alteryx Analytics Cloud requires that JSON files be submitted with one valid JSON object per line. Consistently malformed JSON objects or objects that overlap linebreaks might cause import to fail.

  • Plain Text

  • LOG

  • TSV

  • Parquet

    Note

    When working with datasets sourced from Parquet files, lineage information and the $sourcerownumber reference are not supported.

  • Avro

    Note

    When working with datasets sourced from Avro files, lineage information and the $sourcerownumber reference are not supported.

  • Google Sheets

    Note

    Individual users must enable access to their Google Drive. No data other than Google Sheets is read from Google Drive.

Converted file formats

Files of the following type are not read into the product in their native format. Instead, these file types are converted using the Conversion Service into a file format that is natively supported, stored in the base storage layer, and then ingested for use in the product.

Note

Compressed files that require conversion of the underlying file format are not supported for use in the product.

Converted file formats:

  • Excel (XLS/XLSX)

    Note

    Other Excel-related formats, such as XLSM format, are not supported. If you are encountering issues, try to Save As to XLS or XLSX from within the Microsoft Excel application.

    Tip

    You may import multiple worksheets from a single workbook at one time.

  • Google Sheets

    Tip

    You may import multiple sheets from a single Google Sheet at one time.

  • PDF

  • JSON

Native Output File Formats

Designer Cloud can write to these file formats:

Note

Some output formats may need to be enabled by an administrator.

  • CSV

  • JSON

  • Hyper

    Note

    Publication of results in Hyper format may require additional configuration. See below.

  • Avro

    Note

    The Trifacta Photon and Spark running environments apply Snappy compression to this format.

  • Parquet

    Note

    The Trifacta Photon and Spark running environments apply Snappy compression to this format.

Compression Algorithms

When a file is imported, the Cloud Portal attempts to infer the compression algorithm in use based on the filename extension. For example, .gz files are assumed to be compressed with GZIP.

Note

Import of a compressed file whose underlying format requires conversion through the Conversion Service is not supported.

Read Native File Formats

GZIP

BZIP

Snappy

Notes

CSV

Supported

Supported

Supported

JSON v2

Not supported

Not supported

Not supported

A converted file format. See above.

JSON v1

Supported

Supported

Supported

Not a converted file format. See above.

Avro

Supported

Write Native File Formats

GZIP

BZIP

Snappy

CSV

Supported

Supported

Supported

JSON

Supported

Supported

Supported

Avro

Supported; always on

Snappy compression formats

Designer Cloud supports the following variants of Snappy compression format:

File extension

Format name

Notes

.sz

Framing2 format

See: https://github.com/google/snappy/blob/master/framing_format.txt

.snappy

Hadoop-snappy format

See: https://code.google.com/p/hadoop-snappy/

Note

Xerial's snappy-java format, which is also written with a .snappy file extension by default, is not supported.

Supported File Formats by Application

Individual applications may support a subset of the file formats and compression algorithms listed in this page.

Application

Description

Designer Experience

You can import a number of flat-file formats for use in Designer Experience. See Designer Cloud File Format Options.

Trifacta Classic

All platform file formats and compression algorithms are supported.

Reporting

Reporting uses data from your workflows as inputs. See Designer Experience.

Reports can be exported in XLSX and PDF formats. See Reporting User Interface.

Machine Learning

Uploaded data for model training or prediction must be a CSV file. For more information, see Problem Setup and Export and Predict.