--- title: Delta Lake 3.3 | daily.dev description: Delta Lake 3.3 ships on Apache Spark 3.5.3 with a set of performance and interoperability features. Highlights include identity columns for auto-incrementing... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/delta-lake-3-3-eoj3da6ag twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Delta Lake 3.3 | daily.dev og:description: Delta Lake 3.3 ships on Apache Spark 3.5.3 with a set of performance and interoperability features. Highlights include identity columns for auto-incrementing... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/delta-lake-3-3-eoj3da6ag og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/eoJ3Da6Ag.png og:image:alt: Delta Lake 3.3 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Delta Lake 3.3 **[Delta Lake Blog](https://daily.dev/sources/delta-lake)** · 6 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Delta Lake 3.3 ships on Apache Spark 3.5.3 with a set of performance and interoperability features. Highlights include identity columns for auto-incrementing IDs, VACUUM LITE for 5-10x faster table maintenance, Row Tracking Backfill for existing tables, version checksums for stronger consistency guarantees, the ability to enable UniForm Iceberg on existing tables without rewriting data, and type widening support in Delta Kernel Java and Rust. Additional updates cover Liquid Clustering improvements (OPTIMIZE FULL, unpartitioned tables, external locations), UniForm performance optimizations, and expanded Delta Kernel support for log cleanup and data skipping. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What does VACUUM LITE do in Delta Lake 3.3? VACUUM LITE is a new table maintenance feature in Delta Lake 3.3 that uses the Delta transaction log to identify and remove unreferenced files, instead of scanning the full storage location. It delivers 5-10x performance improvements for periodic cleanup tasks, reducing both time and cost of table maintenance. _Track Delta Lake performance features like this on daily.dev while optimizing your data pipelines._ ### Can I enable UniForm Iceberg on an existing Delta Lake table without rewriting the data? Yes, Delta Lake 3.3 adds support for enabling UniForm Iceberg on existing tables via ALTER, without rewriting the underlying data. This lets tables be read and shared across Iceberg clients, improving interoperability between Delta Lake and Iceberg-based workflows. _Developers weighing Delta Lake versus Iceberg interoperability can follow updates like this on daily.dev._ ### Does Delta Kernel support type widening for reading Delta tables? Yes, as of Delta Lake 3.3 both the Java and Rust Delta Kernel implementations support reading tables with type widening enabled. Type widening lets a column's type be changed to a wider type to accommodate data expansion without rewriting existing data, and connectors built on either Kernel can now read tables using eligible widened types. _daily.dev helps engineers building Delta connectors keep up with Kernel capability changes._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Advancing the Open Lakehouse with Apache Spark, the Delta Kernel, and the new UC Delta APIs](https://daily.dev/posts/advancing-the-open-lakehouse-with-apache-spark-the-delta-kernel-and-the-new-uc-delta-apis-dbaazlwws) · Delta Lake Blog · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Advancing the Lakehouse with Apache Iceberg v3 on Databricks](https://daily.dev/posts/advancing-the-lakehouse-with-apache-iceberg-v3-on-databricks-6p6wf37qi) · databricks · 4 upvotes · 0 comments - [Delta Kernel \(Rust\) and the future of the Lakehouse.](https://daily.dev/posts/delta-kernel-rust-and-the-future-of-the-lakehouse--twurulaae) · Confessions of a Data Guy · 15 upvotes · 1 comments - [Apache Iceberg vs Delta Lake: Choosing the Right Table Format](https://daily.dev/posts/apache-iceberg-vs-delta-lake-choosing-the-right-table-format-vtnia2ems) · BigData Boutique blog · 7 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#backend](https://daily.dev/tags/backend), [#data-engineering](https://daily.dev/tags/data-engineering), [#apache-spark](https://daily.dev/tags/apache-spark), [#apache-iceberg](https://daily.dev/tags/apache-iceberg) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/delta-lake-3-3-eoj3da6ag) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Delta Lake 3.3","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/delta-lake-3-3-eoj3da6ag","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/delta-lake-3-3-eoj3da6ag"},"datePublished":"2026-08-16T08:53:57.614Z","dateModified":"2026-08-16T08:57:40.256Z","description":"Delta Lake 3.3 ships on Apache Spark 3.5.3 with a set of performance and interoperability features. 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