# Using indexes as column store?

DevFeed: [Using indexes as column store?](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/using-indexes-as-column-store-34376.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://tapoueh.org/blog/2010/07/using-indexes-as-column-store/>)

Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author

Published: 2010-07-08T09:15:00Z

Content type: opinion

Language: en

Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/dimitri-fontaine.md>)

Topics: [PostgreSQL](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/postgresql.md>), [parquet](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/parquet.md>), [data](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/data.md>)

Tags: [compression](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/compression.md>), [indexes](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/indexes.md>), [postgresql](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/postgresql.md>), [storage](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/storage.md>)

## AI overview

The article proposes using PostgreSQL indexes to approximate column-oriented storage without adding a separate storage facility. It explains that indexes could store repeated column values once, use covering-index visibility information, and avoid scanning the main table when possible, potentially reducing data traffic.

## Source excerpt

There's a big trend nowadays about using column storage as opposed to what PostgreSQL is doing, which would be row storage. The difference is that if you have the same column value in a lot of rows, you could get to a point where you have this value only once in the underlying storage file. That means high compression. Then you tweak the executor to be able to load this value only once, not once per row, and you win another huge source of data traffic (often enough, from disk).