Convert XLS to Avro

XLS files are Excel files that use the Binary Interchange File Format (BIFF), which was the default format for Excel versions 97-2003.

XLS files can contain multiple sheets, and each sheet can contain multiple rows and columns of data. They support various data types, including text, numbers, dates, and formulas.

Key features of XLS files include:

• Compatibility with older versions of Excel and other spreadsheet software
• Ability to store formatting information, charts, and macros
• Smaller file size compared to newer formats like XLSX
• Limited to 65,536 rows and 256 columns per sheet

While XLS files are still widely used, they are gradually being replaced by the more modern XLSX format.

Apache Avro is a row-oriented remote procedure call and data serialization framework developed within Apache's Hadoop project. It uses JSON for defining data types and protocols, and serializes data in a compact binary format.

Avro is designed to support complex nested data structures and enables efficient querying and manipulation of specific columns without reading the entire dataset.