apache/iceberg · error · UnsupportedOperationException

Unsupported ZonedTimestampType.

Error message

Unsupported ZonedTimestampType.

What it means

The default FlinkTypeVisitor.visit(ZonedTimestampType) throws UnsupportedOperationException because Iceberg has no mapping for Flink's TIMESTAMP_WITH_LOCAL_TIME_ZONE zoned timestamp type. Any visitor-based Flink-to-Iceberg type conversion (e.g. FlinkTypeUtil.toIcebergType / schema conversion) hits this when the Flink type tree contains a zoned timestamp.

Solutions

1. Change the column type to plain `TIMESTAMP(6)` (without local time zone) in the Flink DDL.
2. Cast the LTZ column to TIMESTAMP in the pipeline before writing to Iceberg.
3. Use a custom LogicalTypeVisitor subclass that overrides visit(ZonedTimestampType) with a project-specific mapping (e.g. TimestamptzType) if your Iceberg/Flink versions support it.

Example fix

// before
CREATE TABLE t (event_ts TIMESTAMP(3) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE);
// after
CREATE TABLE t (event_ts TIMESTAMP(6));

if (dataType.getLogicalType() instanceof ZonedTimestampType) {
  throw new IllegalArgumentException("Use TIMESTAMP(6) instead of TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE for Iceberg");
}

boolean isUnsupported = t instanceof ZonedTimestampType || t instanceof YearMonthIntervalType || t instanceof DayTimeIntervalType || t instanceof DistinctType || t instanceof StructuredType || t instanceof NullType || t instanceof RawType<?> || t instanceof SymbolType<?>;

try {
  icebergType = FlinkTypeUtil.toIcebergType(dataType);
} catch (UnsupportedOperationException e) {
  // fall back to a supported type or surface a clear migration message
}

When it happens

Trigger: Converting a Flink schema containing a TIMESTAMP(3) WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE column to an Iceberg type via FlinkTypeVisitor; calling FlinkSchemaUtil/FlinkTypeToType on such a column.

Common situations: DDLs using `TIMESTAMP_LTZ` or `TIMESTAMP WITH LOCAL TIME ZONE` columns (common for event-time ingestion from Kafka/Debezium) mapped to Iceberg tables.

Understand the failure class

Background: "is not a compatible type" / "cannot merge" errors: when a value's type doesn't match what the library requires — this error's family across 65 libraries.

Related errors

• Unsupported ZonedTimestampType.
• Avro does not support LOCAL TIMESTAMP type with precision
• Avro does not support LOCAL TIMESTAMP type with precision…
• Avro does not support TIMESTAMP type with precision
• Avro does not support TIMESTAMP type with precision

AI-assisted analysis of apache/iceberg@86d9c8fc54 (2026-09-12). Data as JSON: /api/errors/3c504facb42a6541. Report an issue: GitHub.

Appendix: source

Thrown at flink/v2.2/flink/src/main/java/org/apache/iceberg/flink/FlinkTypeVisitor.java:38

import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.DayTimeIntervalType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.DistinctType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.LogicalType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.LogicalTypeVisitor;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.NullType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.RawType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.StructuredType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.SymbolType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.YearMonthIntervalType;
import org.apache.flink.table.types.logical.ZonedTimestampType;

public abstract class FlinkTypeVisitor<T> implements LogicalTypeVisitor<T> {

  // ------------------------- Unsupported types ------------------------------

  @Override
  public T visit(ZonedTimestampType zonedTimestampType) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported ZonedTimestampType.");
  }

  @Override
  public T visit(YearMonthIntervalType yearMonthIntervalType) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported YearMonthIntervalType.");
  }

  @Override
  public T visit(DayTimeIntervalType dayTimeIntervalType) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported DayTimeIntervalType.");
  }

  @Override
  public T visit(DistinctType distinctType) {
    throw new UnsupportedOperationException("Unsupported DistinctType.");
  }

  @Override

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