Open Parquet
Apache Parquet is a compressed, columnar file format — which is exactly why double-clicking a .parquet file gets you nothing. It is binary, so Notepad, Excel, and text editors show gibberish, and most advice online starts with "install Python and pandas".
You do not need any of that for a quick look. viewparquet opens local Parquet files directly in your browser: drag the file in and DuckDB-WASM reads it on your device. The file is not uploaded to viewparquet, there is no account, and no desktop software is required.
No sign-up or install. Core file viewing and SQL processing run in your browser tab.
Or click "Open a file" and pick it. DuckDB-WASM parses the file on-device for viewing and SQL; its contents are not uploaded to viewparquet. You can also open a file straight from S3 or a URL.
Browse the virtualized grid, check column names and DuckDB types, and use the table metadata panel for a schema snapshot. Run SQL or export to Parquet, CSV, or JSON Lines when you need more.
No default desktop app opens .parquet files — the format is a binary, columnar data file, not a document. Use a Parquet viewer: viewparquet opens the file in your browser with no install, and command-line options include the DuckDB CLI and parquet-tools.
Open it in a browser-based viewer. Drag the .parquet file into viewparquet and DuckDB-WASM reads it locally — no Python, pandas, Spark, or install required. You can browse rows, inspect column types, and run SQL.
Open your browser (Edge or Chrome both work), go to viewparquet.com, and drag the .parquet file into the page. Nothing is installed and the file is processed locally. On a managed corporate machine, the site and WebAssembly runtime must still be permitted by your organization policy.
Not by double-clicking. Recent Microsoft 365 versions can import Parquet through Power Query (Get Data); a common no-install alternative is to open the file in viewparquet, export it to CSV, and import the CSV into Excel.
Local file contents stay on your device. viewparquet reads and queries them with DuckDB-WASM in the browser and does not upload the dataset to its servers; aggregate analytics never includes filenames, SQL text, cell values, or file contents.
There is no universal file-size guarantee. Browser memory, Parquet layout, column types, and the query or export all affect the practical limit; the grid reads pages of results, so selecting only the columns and rows you need is the safest approach for a large file.
Drop a Parquet, GeoParquet, CSV, or JSON file into viewparquet: browse rows, run DuckDB SQL, and export results in-browser without uploading the dataset to viewparquet. Optional AI sends messages and applicable context directly to the provider you choose; review Settings → AI before use.