The document discusses the Optimized Row Columnar (ORC) file format. ORC provides column-based storage with optimizations for performance and compression. These include column-level compression, row groups for parallel reads, protobuf metadata, vectorization, and integration with Hive ACID transactions and Apache Tez for distributed execution. The document outlines the performance benefits ORC has provided for companies like Facebook and Spotify. It also details ongoing work to further optimize ORC using techniques like JDK8 SIMD, dynamic compression, row indexes, and low-latency analytics processing.