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I've been doing some reading about the Antelope and Barracuda file formats for InnoDB. I recall at least one source mentioning that the two should not be used simultaneously.

I can't think of a good reason (while using innodb_file_per_table) that I couldn't use Antelope on one table and Barracuda on another. However, maybe I'm missing something.

Are there any good reasons to avoid using Antelope and Barracuda simultaneously?

(Note: The reason I'm planning on using both simultaneously is that I don't want to mess with our existing (quite large) tables. Perhaps this isn't a big deal? Is migrating from Antelope to Barracuda trivial, even for large tables?)

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I wrote a post 3 years ago that discusses this very subject : innodb_file_format Barracuda

In terms of storage, using Antelope and Barracuda is possible. However, in my post, I discuss a residual effect on the InnoDB Buffer Pool. You need a larger Buffer Pool because Barracuda compressed pages in the Buffer Pool have to be decompressed to the read in the Buffer Pool.

You should dig deeper through Percona's Performance Blog site for any additional insights.

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  • I'm just marking this as accepted right now. I can't imagine how someone could provide a better answer! :) Thanks, @Rolando!
    – rinogo
    Mar 6, 2015 at 23:21
  • I just updated the second link to all references to Barracuda
    – RolandoMySQLDBA
    Mar 6, 2015 at 23:24
  • By the way, just to make sure I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like just using Barracuda (at all) requires a larger buffer pool. It doesn't really have anything to do with using Antelope and Barracuda simultaneously, but more that if you're using Barracuda at all, the tables that do use Barracuda will consume more of the buffer pool than they would if they were stored with Antelope. Is this correct?
    – rinogo
    Mar 6, 2015 at 23:27
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    Yup. That's the point. This is why I gave the Percona link. I am sure they have already written about the major pros and cons of the storage aspects.
    – RolandoMySQLDBA
    Mar 6, 2015 at 23:30
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    From my old post, I show some numbers that reveal an inverse ratio. The tighter the compression, the less increased RAM you need. The looser the compression, the more increased RAM you need. Either way, you need more RAM with Barracuda.
    – RolandoMySQLDBA
    Mar 6, 2015 at 23:33

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