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Commonly confused · Data & Analytics

Structured vs Semi-Structured vs Unstructured Data: What's the Difference?

Structured data fits a fixed schema of rows and columns. Semi-structured data has organizing tags or keys but a flexible schema, like JSON or XML. Unstructured data has no predefined model, such as images, video, audio, and free-form text, and makes up most of the world's data.

Structured Data

Full definition
vs

Semi-Structured Data

Full definition
vs

Unstructured Data

Full definition
Structured DataSemi-Structured DataUnstructured Data
SchemaFixed, predefinedSelf-describing, flexibleNone
ExamplesRelational tables, spreadsheets, CSVJSON, XML, YAML, log files, emails (headers)Images, video, audio, PDFs, documents, social posts
StorageRelational databases, warehousesNoSQL document stores, data lakesObject storage, data lakes
Ease of queryingEasiest (SQL)ModerateHardest; needs processing or ML
Share of enterprise dataSmallestModerateLargest (often estimated around 80%)
Remember it

Structured has columns, semi-structured has tags, unstructured has neither.

Exam tip

Questions give a data example and ask its category. JSON and XML are the textbook semi-structured examples, and a CSV is structured even though it is a text file.

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