apache/iceberg · error · java.lang.IllegalArgumentException

Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: ${ob

Error message

Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: ${object}

What it means

Thrown by AvroToRowDataConverters.convertToTime when an Avro 'time-millis'/'time-micros' logical type field yields an object that is neither java.time.LocalTime nor a Joda-convertible type. The converter needs to extract millis-of-day but cannot from the unexpected object type.

Source

Thrown at flink/v2.1/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/formats/avro/AvroToRowDataConverters.java:284

      } else {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
            "Unexpected object type for DATE logical type. Received: " + object);
      }
    }
  }

  private static int convertToTime(Object object) {
    final int millis;
    if (object instanceof Integer) {
      millis = (Integer) object;
    } else if (object instanceof LocalTime) {
      millis = ((LocalTime) object).get(ChronoField.MILLI_OF_DAY);
    } else {
      JodaConverter jodaConverter = JodaConverter.getConverter();
      if (jodaConverter != null) {
        millis = jodaConverter.convertTime(object);
      } else {
        throw new IllegalArgumentException(
            "Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: " + object);
      }
    }
    return millis;
  }

  private static byte[] convertToBytes(Object object) {
    if (object instanceof GenericFixed) {
      return ((GenericFixed) object).bytes();
    } else if (object instanceof ByteBuffer) {
      ByteBuffer byteBuffer = (ByteBuffer) object;
      byte[] bytes = new byte[byteBuffer.remaining()];
      byteBuffer.get(bytes);
      return bytes;
    } else {
      return (byte[]) object;
    }
  }

View on GitHub (pinned to 86d9c8fc54)

Solutions

1. Ensure the Avro schema retains the time logical type and the reader materializes java.time.LocalTime
2. Add joda-time dependency if consuming legacy Joda-based records
3. Pre-convert the field to LocalTime before the record enters the Avro reader pipeline
4. Verify the writer schema logical types match what the reader expects

Example fix

// before: time arrives as Long millis
int millis = ((Long) obj).intValue();
// after: convert to LocalTime so the converter accepts it
LocalTime t = LocalTime.ofNanoOfDay(((Long) obj) * 1_000_000);

Object t = record.get("time");
if (!(t instanceof LocalTime)) {
  throw new IllegalStateException("Time field must be LocalTime, got: " + t.getClass());
}

boolean isLocalTime(Object o) {
  return o instanceof LocalTime;
}

try {
  RowData row = converter.convert(record);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("Unexpected object type for TIME")) {
    // normalize to LocalTime and retry
  } else { throw e; }
}

When it happens

Trigger: Reading Avro records where a time logical-type field arrives as java.util.Date, String, Long, etc., and JodaConverter is null (joda-time not on the classpath) or cannot handle the type.

Common situations: Legacy Avro writers producing time fields as Joda or util types; java.time-based Flink reads with missing joda-time dependency; schema mismatch dropping the logical type so raw Longs arrive.

Understand the failure class

Background: Type mismatch errors: IllegalArgumentException, TypeError and type guards across 150 open-source libraries — this error's family across 150 libraries.

Related errors

• Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: ${ob
• Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received: " +
• Unexpected object type for TIME logical type. Received:
• Unexpected object type for TIMESTAMP logical type. Received:
• Unexpected object type for DATE logical type. Received: ${ob

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/0f47b8beffb1ffeb. Report an issue: GitHub.