We present a method for estimating the number of distinct values (NDV) of a column in columnar file formats, using only existing file metadata--no extra storage, no data access. Two complementary signals are exploited: (1)~inverting the dictionary-encoded storage size equation yields accurate NDV estimates when distinct values are well-spread across row groups; (2)~counting distinct min/max values across row groups and inverting a coupon collector model provides robust estimates for sorted or partitioned data. A lightweight distribution detector routes between the two estimators. While demonstrated on Apache Parquet, the technique generalizes to any format with dictionary encoding and partition-level statistics, such as ORC and F3. Applications include cost-based query optimization, GPU memory allocation, and data profiling.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2603.24606,
title = {Zero-Cost NDV Estimation from Columnar File Metadata},
author = {Claude Brisson},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2603.24606},
year = {2026}
}