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layout: home
title: Apache Arrow
description: A cross-language development platform for in-memory analytics
---
<h2>What is Arrow?</h2>
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      <h3>Format</h3>
      <p>Apache Arrow defines a language-independent columnar memory format for flat and hierarchical data, organized for efficient analytic operations on modern hardware like CPUs and GPUs. The Arrow memory format also supports zero-copy reads for lightning-fast data access without serialization overhead.</p>
      <p><a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/overview/">Learn more</a> about the design or
        <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/format/Columnar.html">read the specification</a>.</p>
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      <h3>Libraries</h3>
      <p>Arrow's libraries implement the format and provide building blocks for a range of <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/use_cases/">use cases</a>, including high performance analytics. <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/powered_by/">Many popular projects</a> use Arrow to ship columnar data efficiently or as the basis for analytic engines.</p>
      <p>Libraries are available for <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/c_glib/">C</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/cpp/">C++</a>, <a href="https://github.com/apache/arrow/blob/main/csharp/README.md">C#</a>, <a href="https://godoc.org/github.com/apache/arrow/go/arrow">Go</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/java/">Java</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/js/">JavaScript</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/julia/">Julia</a>, <a href="https://github.com/apache/arrow/blob/main/matlab/README.md">MATLAB</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/python/">Python</a>, <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/docs/r/">R</a>, <a href="https://github.com/apache/arrow/blob/main/ruby/README.md">Ruby</a>, and <a href="https://docs.rs/crate/arrow/">Rust</a>.
      See <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/install/">how to install</a> and get started.
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      <h3>Ecosystem</h3>
      <p>Apache Arrow is software created by and for the developer community. We are <a href="https://www.apache.org/theapacheway/">dedicated</a> to open, kind communication and consensus decisionmaking. Our <a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/committers/">committers</a> come from a range of organizations and backgrounds, and <a href="https://www.apache.org/foundation/policies/conduct.html">we welcome all</a> to participate with us. </p>

      <p><a href="{{ site.baseurl }}/community/">Learn more</a> about how you can ask questions and get involved in the Arrow project.</p>
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