BL_COMPRESS= Data Set Option

Specifies whether to compress data files using the gzip format.

Valid in: DATA and PROC steps (when accessing DBMS data using SAS/ACCESS software)
Categories: Bulk Loading
Data Set Control
Default: NO
Requirement: To specify this option, you must first specify BULKLOAD=YES or BULKUNLOAD=YES.
Data source: Amazon Redshift, Microsoft SQL Server, Snowflake, Spark
Notes: Support for Microsoft SQL Server was added in SAS 9.4M7.
Support for Spark was added in SAS 9.4M9.
See: BL_COMPRESS= LIBNAME option, BULKLOAD= data set option

Table of Contents

Syntax

BL_COMPRESS=YES | NO

Details

If you have a slow network or very large data files, using BL_COMPRESS=YES might improve performance.

Spark: This option is used when the Spark engine bulk loads or bulk unloads data in Databricks. For more information, see Bulk Loading and Unloading to Databricks in Azure.

Last updated: February 3, 2026