Apache Iceberg's Metadata Magic: Eliminating 99% of Data Files Before Query Execution

Apache Iceberg's biggest performance advantage lies not in clever algorithms but in metadata-driven data skipping—by the time query engines begin scanning actual files, 90-99% have already been eliminated from consideration. Understanding this metadata-powered process reveals why Iceberg tables with billions of rows can return results in seconds, fundamentally outperforming traditional data lakes.