Why it matters

Delta encoding is column preprocessing. Understanding shapes compression pipelines.

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The architecture

Store first value + deltas.

Deltas often smaller.

Compress deltas with varint / entropy code.

Delta encoding pipelineFirst value + deltasdifferencesSmall deltasfor sorted / smooth dataEntropy code deltasfurther compressionTime series + sorted columns benefit most; combine with varint + Zstd
Delta encoding.
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How it works end to end

Delta of deltas for 2nd-order.

Varint encoding of deltas.

Time-series DB use.