apache/iceberg · error · IllegalArgumentException

Unsupported compression strategy:

Error message

Unsupported compression strategy: 

What it means

ORC's write builder converts the compression-strategy config into ORC's CompressionStrategy enum via uppercased valueOf. If the string is not a valid CompressionStrategy name (only SPEED or COMPRESSION), IllegalArgumentException is thrown with this message.

Solutions

1. Set the strategy to exactly SPEED or COMPRESSION (any case)
2. Remove write.orc.compression-strategy to use the default strategy
3. Trim the value and avoid extra characters

Example fix

// before
props.set("write.orc.compression-strategy", "fast");
// after
props.set("write.orc.compression-strategy", "SPEED");

String s = props.getProperty("write.orc.compression-strategy", "").toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT).trim();
if (!s.isEmpty() && !s.equals("SPEED") && !s.equals("COMPRESSION")) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Invalid ORC compression strategy: " + s);
}

try {
  builder.set("write.orc.compression-strategy", strategy);
} catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
  if (e.getMessage().contains("Unsupported compression strategy")) {
    log.warn("Invalid strategy '{}', using default", strategy);
    builder.build();
  } else throw e;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Setting the ORC compression strategy property (write.orc.compression-strategy) to anything other than SPEED or COMPRESSION (case-insensitive).

Common situations: Typo such as 'fast' or 'balanced'; copying Parquet/other-format strategy names; accidental whitespace in the property value.

Understand the failure class

Background: "Invalid value" and "allowed values are" config errors: what your library rejected and how to fix it — this error's family across 41 libraries.

Related errors

• Unsupported compression codec:
• Ignoring invalid metrics mode
• Unknown file content:
• Unsupported compression codec
• Batch reading is not supported in non-vectorized reader

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1129a6a98acf6388. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at orc/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/orc/ORC.java:389

            compressionKind,
            compressionStrategy,
            dataContext.bloomFilterColumns(),
            dataContext.bloomFilterFpp());
      }

      private static CompressionKind toCompressionKind(String codecAsString) {
        try {
          return CompressionKind.valueOf(codecAsString.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException("Unsupported compression codec: " + codecAsString);
        }
      }

      private static CompressionStrategy toCompressionStrategy(String strategyAsString) {
        try {
          return CompressionStrategy.valueOf(strategyAsString.toUpperCase(Locale.ROOT));
        } catch (IllegalArgumentException e) {
          throw new IllegalArgumentException(
              "Unsupported compression strategy: " + strategyAsString);
        }
      }
    }
  }

  public static DataWriteBuilder writeData(OutputFile file) {
    return new DataWriteBuilder(file);
  }

  public static DataWriteBuilder writeData(EncryptedOutputFile file) {
    Preconditions.checkState(
        !(file instanceof NativeEncryptionOutputFile), "Native ORC encryption is not supported");
    return new DataWriteBuilder(file.encryptingOutputFile());
  }

  public static class DataWriteBuilder {
    private final WriteBuilder appenderBuilder;

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