DECOMPRESS (Transact-SQL)
Applies to: SQL Server 2016 (13.x) and later Azure SQL Database Azure SQL Managed Instance Azure Synapse Analytics SQL analytics endpoint in Microsoft Fabric Warehouse in Microsoft Fabric
This function decompresses an input expression value, using the Gzip algorithm. DECOMPRESS
returns a byte array in the varbinary(max) data type.
Transact-SQL syntax conventions
Syntax
DECOMPRESS ( expression )
Arguments
expression
A varbinary(n), varbinary(max), or binary(n) value. For more information, see Expressions (Transact-SQL).
Return types
A value of data type varbinary(max). DECOMPRESS
uses the Gzip algorithm to decompress the input argument. You should explicitly cast the result to a target type if necessary.
Remarks
Examples
A. Decompress Data at Query Time
This example shows how to return compressed table data:
SELECT _id,
name,
surname,
datemodified,
CAST(DECOMPRESS(info) AS NVARCHAR(MAX)) AS info
FROM player;
B. Display compressed data using computed column
Note
This example does not apply to Azure Synapse Analytics.
This example shows how to create a table for decompressed data storage:
CREATE TABLE example_table (
_id INT PRIMARY KEY IDENTITY,
name NVARCHAR(MAX),
surname NVARCHAR(MAX),
info VARBINARY(MAX),
info_json AS CAST(DECOMPRESS(info) AS NVARCHAR(MAX))
);