> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://george-jen.gitbook.io/data-science-and-apache-spark/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://george-jen.gitbook.io/data-science-and-apache-spark/apache-arrow.md).

# Apache Arrow

Apache Arrow is an in-memory columnar data format that is used in Spark to efficiently transfer data between JVM and Python processes. This currently is most beneficial to Python users that work with Pandas/NumPy data. Its usage is not automatic and might require some minor changes to configuration or code to take full advantage and ensure compatibility.

![](/files/-M4jXzcKtUGUVhcrgZAp)