BigQuery stores data using columnar storage format and presents data in table, rows, and columns. Key features on storage:
- Managed: BigQuery automatically allocates storage for you when you load data into the system.
- Durable: 99.99+ annual durability.
- Encrypted: BigQuery automatically encrypts all data before it is written to disk. See Encryption at rest.
- Efficient: See Capacitor, BigQuery’s columnar storage format.
Most of the data stored is presented as Table data in BigQuery, and users are billed for it, see: BigQuery storage pricing
References
Overview of BigQuery storage. [Online]. Available at: https://cloud.google.com/bigquery/docs/storage_overview [Accessed 4 April 2025].