{"id":23723,"library":"feather-format","title":"Feather Format","description":"Simple wrapper library to the Apache Arrow-based Feather File Format. Current version 0.4.1. Development is in maintenance mode; users are encouraged to use pyarrow directly.","status":"maintenance","version":"0.4.1","language":"python","source_language":"en","source_url":"https://github.com/wesm/feather","tags":["feather","apache-arrow","data-serialization","format"],"install":[{"cmd":"pip install feather-format","lang":"bash","label":"Install from PyPI"}],"dependencies":[{"reason":"Core dependency for reading/writing Feather files","package":"pyarrow","optional":false}],"imports":[{"note":"Legacy API was feather.read_dataframe; the recommended import is from feather import read_dataframe to avoid namespace confusion.","wrong":"import feather; feather.read_dataframe(...)","symbol":"read_dataframe","correct":"from feather import read_dataframe"},{"note":"Same as read_dataframe.","wrong":"import feather; feather.write_dataframe(...)","symbol":"write_dataframe","correct":"from feather import write_dataframe"}],"quickstart":{"code":"import pandas as pd\nfrom feather import read_dataframe, write_dataframe\n\ndf = pd.DataFrame({'x': [1,2,3], 'y': ['a','b','c']})\nwrite_dataframe(df, 'test.feather')\ndf2 = read_dataframe('test.feather')\nprint(df2)","lang":"python","description":"Write and read a Feather file using feather-format."},"warnings":[{"fix":"Replace `from feather import read_dataframe` with `from pyarrow.feather import read_feather` and adjust function names accordingly.","message":"Feather-format (library) is deprecated; use pyarrow.feather directly. Development moved to Apache Arrow.","severity":"deprecated","affected_versions":">=0.4.0"},{"fix":"Ensure you use the new API (`from feather import read_dataframe`). Old `feather.read_dataframe` still works but is less explicit.","message":"Version 0.4.0 switched from a custom C++ implementation to pyarrow-based backend. Backward compatibility with files written by older versions is maintained but the API changed slightly.","severity":"breaking","affected_versions":"0.4.0+"},{"fix":"Use `pip install pyarrow` and import from `pyarrow.feather` for the latest Feather format support.","message":"The feather-format library from PyPI is NOT the same as the 'feather' R package or the 'feather' specification. Use pyarrow for updated features.","severity":"gotcha","affected_versions":"all"}],"env_vars":null,"last_verified":"2026-05-01T00:00:00.000Z","next_check":"2026-07-30T00:00:00.000Z","problems":[{"fix":"Run `pip uninstall feather` then `pip install feather-format` or `pip install pyarrow`.","cause":"You installed `feather` (a different, unrelated package) instead of `feather-format`.","error":"ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'feather'"},{"fix":"Use explicit import: `from feather import read_dataframe` ensures you get the right module.","cause":"Common name collision: `import feather` often imports the wrong `feather` package (an IRC bot library) instead of feather-format.","error":"AttributeError: module 'feather' has no attribute 'read_dataframe'"},{"fix":"Use pyarrow.feather.read_feather to read modern Feather files: `pip install pyarrow` then `from pyarrow.feather import read_feather`.","cause":"The file was written by a newer Feather specification (V2) that feather-format cannot read. feather-format only supports V1.","error":"feather.libfeather.FeatherError: Unsupported Feather version"}],"ecosystem":"pypi","meta_description":null,"install_score":null,"install_tag":null,"quickstart_score":null,"quickstart_tag":null}