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Binary format in Azure Data Factory and Synapse Analytics

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APPLIES TO: Azure Data Factory Azure Synapse Analytics

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Binary format is supported for the following connectors: Amazon S3, Amazon S3 Compatible Storage, Azure Blob, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen1, Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, Azure Files, File System, FTP, Google Cloud Storage, HDFS, HTTP, Oracle Cloud Storage and SFTP.

You can use Binary dataset in Copy activity, GetMetadata activity, or Delete activity. When using Binary dataset, the service does not parse file content but treat it as-is.

Note

When using Binary dataset in copy activity, you can only copy from Binary dataset to Binary dataset.

Dataset properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining datasets, see the Datasets article. This section provides a list of properties supported by the Binary dataset.

Property Description Required
type The type property of the dataset must be set to Binary. Yes
location Location settings of the file(s). Each file-based connector has its own location type and supported properties under location. See details in connector article -> Dataset properties section. Yes
compression Group of properties to configure file compression. Configure this section when you want to do compression/decompression during activity execution. No
type The compression codec used to read/write binary files.
Allowed values are bzip2, gzip, deflate, ZipDeflate, Tar, or TarGzip.
Note when using copy activity to decompress ZipDeflate/TarGzip/Tar file(s) and write to file-based sink data store, by default files are extracted to the folder:<path specified in dataset>/<folder named as source compressed file>/, use preserveZipFileNameAsFolder/preserveCompressionFileNameAsFolder on copy activity source to control whether to preserve the name of the compressed file(s) as folder structure.		 No
level The compression ratio. Apply when dataset is used in Copy activity sink.
Allowed values are Optimal or Fastest.
- Fastest: The compression operation should complete as quickly as possible, even if the resulting file is not optimally compressed.
- Optimal: The compression operation should be optimally compressed, even if the operation takes a longer time to complete. For more information, see Compression Level topic.		 No

Below is an example of Binary dataset on Azure Blob Storage:

{
    "name": "BinaryDataset",
    "properties": {
        "type": "Binary",
        "linkedServiceName": {
            "referenceName": "<Azure Blob Storage linked service name>",
            "type": "LinkedServiceReference"
        },
        "typeProperties": {
            "location": {
                "type": "AzureBlobStorageLocation",
                "container": "containername",
                "folderPath": "folder/subfolder",
            },
            "compression": {
                "type": "ZipDeflate"
            }
        }
    }
}

Copy activity properties

For a full list of sections and properties available for defining activities, see the Pipelines article. This section provides a list of properties supported by the Binary source and sink.

Note

When using Binary dataset in copy activity, you can only copy from Binary dataset to Binary dataset.

Binary as source

The following properties are supported in the copy activity *source* section.

Property Description Required
type The type property of the copy activity source must be set to BinarySource. Yes
formatSettings A group of properties. Refer to Binary read settings table below. No
storeSettings A group of properties on how to read data from a data store. Each file-based connector has its own supported read settings under storeSettings. See details in connector article -> Copy activity properties section. No

Supported binary read settings under formatSettings:

Property Description Required
type The type of formatSettings must be set to BinaryReadSettings. Yes
compressionProperties A group of properties on how to decompress data for a given compression codec. No
preserveZipFileNameAsFolder
(under compressionProperties->type as ZipDeflateReadSettings)		 Applies when input dataset is configured with ZipDeflate compression. Indicates whether to preserve the source zip file name as folder structure during copy.
- When set to true (default), The service writes unzipped files to <path specified in dataset>/<folder named as source zip file>/.
- When set to false, the service writes unzipped files directly to <path specified in dataset>. Make sure you don't have duplicated file names in different source zip files to avoid racing or unexpected behavior.		 No
preserveCompressionFileNameAsFolder
(under compressionProperties->type as TarGZipReadSettings or TarReadSettings)		 Applies when input dataset is configured with TarGzip/Tar compression. Indicates whether to preserve the source compressed file name as folder structure during copy.
- When set to true (default), the service writes decompressed files to <path specified in dataset>/<folder named as source compressed file>/.
- When set to false, the service writes decompressed files directly to <path specified in dataset>. Make sure you don't have duplicated file names in different source files to avoid racing or unexpected behavior.		 No 
"activities": [
    {
        "name": "CopyFromBinary",
        "type": "Copy",
        "typeProperties": {
            "source": {
                "type": "BinarySource",
                "storeSettings": {
                    "type": "AzureBlobStorageReadSettings",
                    "recursive": true,
                    "deleteFilesAfterCompletion": true
                },
                "formatSettings": {
                    "type": "BinaryReadSettings",
                    "compressionProperties": {
                        "type": "ZipDeflateReadSettings",
                        "preserveZipFileNameAsFolder": false
                    }
                }
            },
            ...
        }
        ...
    }
]

Binary as sink

The following properties are supported in the copy activity *sink* section.

Property Description Required
type The type property of the copy activity source must be set to BinarySink. Yes
storeSettings A group of properties on how to write data to a data store. Each file-based connector has its own supported write settings under storeSettings. See details in connector article -> Copy activity properties section. No

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