Why Connect Power BI to ParquetReader? 🤔

Power BI is one of the most popular business intelligence tools for turning raw data into dashboards and insights.

But if your data lives in Parquet, Avro, ORC, or Feather files, you’ll quickly run into a challenge: Power BI doesn’t natively support those formats.

That’s where ParquetReader’s API comes in — it converts your files to CSV or JSON on demand, ready for Power BI to consume.

Step 1 — Upload Your File 📤

The easiest way to start is directly from ParquetReader.com.

Upload your Parquet, Avro, ORC, or Feather file in the interface.

Once uploaded, you’ll see a **File ID** under the metadata panel. Copy this ID — it uniquely identifies your file in the API.

For example: `ca545785a27b4db786e0c7f513a82b13`

Step 2 — Get the Download URL 🔗

With the `file_id` copied from the interface, you can download the file as CSV:

`GET https://api.parquetreader.com/parquet/download/?format=csv`

⚠️ For files larger than **10MB**, you’ll need an API key. You can get one by subscribing — once subscribed, your key appears instantly in the UI.

Include the key in the request header:

`X-Api-Key: YOUR_API_KEY`

Step 3 — Connect in Power BI Desktop ⚡

In Power BI Desktop:

1. Go to **Get Data → Web**

2. Click **Advanced**

3. Enter the URL: `https://api.parquetreader.com/parquet/download/?format=csv`

4. Under **HTTP request header parameters**, add:

- Key: `X-Api-Key`

- Value: `YOUR_API_KEY` (only needed for files >10MB)

5. Click **OK** and Power BI will load the CSV data directly into your model.

Step 4 — Refresh and Reuse 🔄

Once connected, you can refresh the dataset in Power BI to re-download the file whenever needed.

If you upload a new file to ParquetReader, just update the `file_id` in the URL, and Power BI will pull the new data automatically.

Example M Query (Power Query) 📝

Here’s a ready-to-use Power Query snippet:

```m

let

Source = Csv.Document(Web.Contents(

"https://api.parquetreader.com/parquet/download/ca545785a27b4db786e0c7f513a82b13?format=csv",

[Headers = ["X-Api-Key"="YOUR_API_KEY"]]

), [Delimiter=",", Columns=20, Encoding=65001, QuoteStyle=QuoteStyle.None])

in

Source

```

Replace the `file_id` and `YOUR_API_KEY` with your values.

Why This Matters 🔥

This integration removes the headache of handling Parquet, Avro, ORC, or Feather files in Power BI.

With just a few clicks, you can turn complex columnar formats into ready-to-use tables — perfect for dashboards, reports, and analytics.

No drivers, no local transformations — just clean data.

Start Using ParquetReader with Power BI 🚀

Ready to connect your own files?

Upload a Parquet, Avro, ORC, or Feather file to ParquetReader, copy the file ID from the interface, and if needed grab your API key.

Then follow the steps above to pull your data straight into Power BI.

Try it now →