Data Storage & Formats
Understanding data storage options - both file formats and browser storage APIs - is essential for building performant applications.
File Formats
| Format | Best For |
|---|---|
| JSON | APIs, config files |
| CSV | Tabular data, spreadsheets |
| Parquet | Analytics, data lakes |
Browser Storage
| API | Capacity | Use Case |
|---|---|---|
| localStorage | ~5 MB | Preferences, small data |
| IndexedDB | GBs | Offline apps, large datasets |
📄️ CSV
CSV (Comma-Separated Values) is a simple, widely-supported file format for storing tabular data. Despite its simplicity, it remains one of the most common formats for data exchange between systems.
📄️ IndexedDB
IndexedDB is a low-level browser API for storing large amounts of structured data, including files and blobs. It's the most powerful client-side storage option and is essential for offline-first and local-first applications.
📄️ JSON
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data interchange format that has become the de facto standard for web APIs and configuration files. Its simplicity and language independence make it ubiquitous in modern software.
📄️ localStorage
localStorage is a simple key-value storage API built into web browsers. It provides persistent storage that survives browser restarts, making it useful for storing user preferences and small amounts of application state.
📄️ Parquet
Apache Parquet is a columnar storage file format optimised for analytical workloads. It's widely used in data engineering and data science for its excellent compression and query performance with large datasets.