Loading Data Files in Power BI Desktop

The instructions on this page are based on the Power BI Desktop February 2021 release.

Supported Formats

Power BI Desktop can load the following data file formats:

• Compressed CSV (csv.gz)

• Parquet (.parquet)

Download the Data Files

Download and save the data files to a suitable location. In the examples that follow, the data has been saved to C:\data.

Although you could load data files directly from the data file URLs, this is not recommended because you may quickly hit usage limits or incur additional costs. We always recommend saving the files locally or to cloud storage first using the Open Data Blend Dataset UI, Open Data Blend Dataset API, or Open Data Blend for Python.

Loading Compressed (Gzip) CSV Data Files

You can use the below steps as a guide on how you can load compressed (Gzip) CSV data files in Power BI Desktop.

On the Power BI ribbon, click Get Data > Blank Query.

Use the Advanced Editor to add a Power Query M expression like the following to the blank query. This will allow the compressed (Gzip) data file to be loaded directly.

let
    Source = Binary.Decompress(File.Contents("C:\data\date\date.csv.gz"), Compression.GZip),
    #"Imported CSV" = Csv.Document(Source,[Delimiter=",", Encoding=1252, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None])
in
    #"Imported CSV"

Note that the Power Query M expression explicitly applies Gzip decompression in the 'Source' step. Without this, Power Query is not able to read the compressed (Gzip) data file directly.

Click 'Done' on the Advanced Editor window and a preview of the data should appear.

Apply the 'Use First Row as Header' transformation and rename the query to something appropriate.

Click 'Close & Apply' to load the data into the data model.

Loading Parquet Data Files

You can use the below steps as a guide on how you can load Parquet data files in Power BI Desktop.

Click 'Get Data' from the Power BI ribbon and then 'More...'.

Click 'Parquet' in the list of data sources and then click 'Connect'.

Enter the path of the data file.

You may have noticed that the path field is labelled 'URL'. This field accepts both local and remote paths.

When presented with a preview of the data, click 'Load'.

The data will be loaded into the data model.

Using Power BI Desktop for Data Analysis

Guidance on how to analyse data in Power BI Desktop is beyond the scope of this documentation.

You may find the following helpful:

• Power BI Documentation
• Microsoft Lean for Power BI