14.10 InnoDB File-Format Management

As InnoDB evolves, data file formats that are not compatible with prior versions of InnoDB are sometimes required to support new features. To help manage compatibility in upgrade and downgrade situations, and systems that run different versions of MySQL, InnoDB uses named file formats. InnoDB currently supports two named file formats, and .

is the original InnoDB file format, which previously did not have a name. It supports the and row formats for InnoDB tables.
is the newest file format. It supports all InnoDB row formats including the newer and row formats. The features associated with and row formats include compressed tables, efficient storage of off-page columns, and index key prefixes up to 3072 bytes (innodb_large_prefix). See Section 14.11, “InnoDB Row Formats”.

This section discusses enabling InnoDB file formats for new InnoDB tables, verifying compatibility of different file formats between MySQL releases, and identifying the file format in use.

InnoDB file format settings do not apply to tables stored in general tablespaces. General tablespaces provide support for all row formats and associated features. For more information, see Section 14.6.3.3, “General Tablespaces”.

Note

The following file format configuration parameters have new default values:

The innodb_file_format default value was changed to Barracuda. The previous default value was Antelope.
The innodb_large_prefix default value was changed to ON. The previous default was OFF.

The following file format configuration parameters are deprecated in and may be removed in a future release:

The file format configuration parameters were provided for creating tables compatible with earlier versions of InnoDB in MySQL 5.1. Now that MySQL 5.1 has reached the end of its product lifecycle, the parameters are no longer required.