Delta 3 is a significant release of Delta Lake, the open-source storage layer that forms the foundation for building lakehouses on Databricks. It introduces several important features that enhance performance, interoperability, and ease of use.

Critical features of Delta 3:

• Delta Universal Format (UniForm): This allows Delta Lake to automatically generate metadata compatible with Apache Iceberg and Apache Hudi, enabling seamless interoperability between these popular table formats without requiring manual conversions.
• Delta Kernel: A new initiative that simplifies the development of Delta connectors by providing streamlined APIs that abstract the complexities of the Delta protocol specification. This makes it easier for developers to build connectors that leverage the full capabilities of Delta Lake.
• Performance enhancements: Delta 3 includes various optimizations that improve the speed and efficiency of Delta Lake operations, such as faster updates with deletion vectors and reduced overhead in file path canonicalization.