---
title: Row-Based vs. Columnar Storage | Tiger Data Docs
description: Understand how columnar storage enables compression
---

**Tiger Data 101** → TimescaleDB | **Section:** Hypercore | **⏱ Time:** \~2 min

## Learning objectives

By the end of this module, you will be able to:

- **Explain** what hypercore is and how it differs from row-based storage (Understand)
- **Describe** compression methods used in hypercore and their benefits (Understand)
- **Apply** hypercore to optimize storage and query performance for analytical workloads (Apply)
- **Compare** hypercore capabilities with traditional columnar storage approaches (Analyze)

---

## Row-Based Storage (Traditional)

In traditional row-based storage, data is organized by row:

```
Row 1: time=2025-01-01, device_id=sensor_1, temp=22.5, humidity=45
Row 2: time=2025-01-01, device_id=sensor_2, temp=23.1, humidity=48
Row 3: time=2025-01-01, device_id=sensor_1, temp=22.6, humidity=44
Row 4: time=2025-01-01, device_id=sensor_2, temp=23.2, humidity=47
```

**Good for:** Random access, frequent updates, mixed queries **Bad for:** Analytical queries on specific columns, compression

---

## Columnar Storage

In columnar storage, data is organized by column:

```
time:     [2025-01-01, 2025-01-01, 2025-01-01, 2025-01-01]
device:   [sensor_1, sensor_2, sensor_1, sensor_2]
temp:     [22.5, 23.1, 22.6, 23.2]
humidity: [45, 48, 44, 47]
```

**Good for:** Analytical queries, compression (similar values clustered) **Bad for:** Random access, frequent updates

---

## Why Columnar Enables Compression

When data is stored column-by-column, identical or similar values are adjacent, enabling extreme compression:

```
temperature column:   [22.5, 23.1, 22.6, 23.2, 22.4, 23.0, ...]
                      ↓ Similar values cluster together
                      Can compress to: "avg_23, range ±1, deltas"
                      Result: 10–40x compression
```

---

→NEXT MODULE

[**Compression Methods** — Learn how Hypercore compresses time-series data.](/learn/tiger-data-academy/tiger-data-101/hypercore/compression-methods/index.md)