apache/iceberg · error · IllegalArgumentException

Invalid iceberg type %s corresponding to ORC type %s

Error message

Invalid iceberg type %s corresponding to ORC type %s

What it means

GenericOrcWriter.primitive() throws IllegalArgumentException when an Iceberg primitive type has no corresponding ORC writer mapping in the current branch (expected e.g. BINARY->byteBuffers, DECIMAL->decimal; anything else is invalid for writing).

Source

Thrown at orc/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/data/orc/GenericOrcWriter.java:134

          Types.TimestampNanoType timestampNanoType = (Types.TimestampNanoType) iPrimitive;
          if (timestampNanoType.shouldAdjustToUTC()) {
            return GenericOrcWriters.timestampTzNanos();
          } else {
            return GenericOrcWriters.timestampNanos();
          }
        case STRING:
          return GenericOrcWriters.strings();
        case UUID:
          return GenericOrcWriters.uuids();
        case FIXED:
          return GenericOrcWriters.byteArrays();
        case BINARY:
          return GenericOrcWriters.byteBuffers();
        case DECIMAL:
          Types.DecimalType decimalType = (Types.DecimalType) iPrimitive;
          return GenericOrcWriters.decimal(decimalType.precision(), decimalType.scale());
        default:
          throw new IllegalArgumentException(
              String.format(
                  "Invalid iceberg type %s corresponding to ORC type %s", iPrimitive, primitive));
      }
    }
  }

  @Override
  public void write(Record value, VectorizedRowBatch output) {
    Preconditions.checkArgument(value != null, "value must not be null");
    writer.writeRow(value, output);
  }

  @Override
  public List<OrcValueWriter<?>> writers() {
    return writer.writers();
  }

  @Override

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

1. Upgrade Iceberg to a version whose GenericOrcWriter supports the type.
2. Change the column type to one supported by the ORC writer (e.g., use binary or long).
3. Write those columns as a supported type or store them serialized.
4. Use a different file format (Parquet/Avro) that supports the type for this table.

Example fix

// before
schema: uuid_col UUID -- GenericOrcWriter has no mapping -> IllegalArgumentException
// after
ALTER TABLE ... ALTER COLUMN uuid_col TYPE BINARY; // store as bytes

// ensure the type is writable to ORC
if (!(iPrimitive instanceof Types.BinaryType || iPrimitive instanceof Types.DecimalType /* ...supported set */)) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("not writable to ORC: " + iPrimitive);
}

boolean writableToOrc = SUPPORTED_PRIMITIVES.contains(iPrimitive.typeId());

When it happens

Trigger: Writing data to ORC data files where a column's Iceberg primitive type is not supported by the writer mapping (e.g., writing a TIMESTAMP_NTZ or UUID variant not handled in that branch).

Common situations: Writing tables with newly introduced Iceberg types using an older Iceberg ORC writer; appends with schemas containing types ORC support doesn't cover in this code path.

Understand the failure class

Background: UnsupportedOperationException and "is not supported" errors: when a library deliberately refuses a call — this error's family across 30 libraries.

Related errors

• Encountered an unsupported ORC type during a write from Spar
• Unhandled type
• Unhandled type
• Unhandled type {primitive}
• Cannot read unsupported column types:

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/44bad8a803e39715. Report an issue: GitHub.