Skip to main content
Iceberg tables can accumulate “orphan files” - files that are no longer necessary for the proper functioning of the table but remain in storage, leading to increased costs over time. Common causes of orphan files include:
  • Files that are no longer referenced by any table snapshot.
  • Files that were written to storage but not committed due to ingestion failures.
  • Other scenarios where unreferenced data persists in storage.
Orphan File Cleanup periodically scans and removes orphan files from the table, helping to reduce storage costs. This process does not affect any data associated with the table.