Handling large Excel files is a common pain point for developers, especially when memory constraints are tight. This article examines Acl.Excel, a .NET library designed for streaming Excel processing that claims constant memory usage even with million-row files. The author provides benchmark data, noting that LibDeflate achieves 1.8x-2.7x decompression throughput compared to .NET's built-in DeflateStream. The piece also discusses test conditions, version differences, and known limitations, offering a balanced view for developers evaluating this approach. For teams building data pipelines or tools that ingest large spreadsheets, understanding streaming patterns and memory-efficient decompression can significantly improve application performance. This topic is particularly relevant for backend engineers and data engineers working with .NET ecosystems.
A practical look at streaming Excel processing in .NET, with benchmarks showing constant memory usage for million-row files and performance comparisons.