# Datasets: what changed from 4 to 5
- Product: Datasets (https://whatsnew.fyi/product/hugging-face-datasets)
- Vendor: Hugging Face
- Range: changelog entries numbered after 4.8.5 up to and including 5.0.1, stable releases only
- Entries below: 2 releases (newest first)
- Resolved: 4 is 4.8.5 and 5 is 5.0.1, the newest stable release of each major we track
- Carrying security changes: 1 · CVEs mentioned: 0 · Mentioning breaking changes: 1 · Removing or deprecating something: 0
- Page: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/hugging-face-datasets/compare/4...5
What's New is an index, not a publisher: every entry below links to the vendor's own release notes, which are the authoritative source. Entries are labelled where they are hand-curated sample data, pre-releases, or drawn from a secondary source such as a developer blog.
Reuse: the summaries, labels and curation here are © What's New. Quote freely with attribution and a link back; wholesale republication of the corpus is not permitted — terms: https://whatsnew.fyi/terms. The vendors' own release notes remain their publishers'.
## What changed (38 changes, grouped by kind)
### Added
#### 5.0.1 (2026-07-28)
- Support hermes traces
- Support droid agent traces
- Support batched=True in Dataset.to_dict
#### 5.0.0 (2026-06-05)
- Parse Agent traces messages for SFT using the teich library to enable training on traces from claude_code, pi, codex and other sources
- Use multiple input shards for shuffle buffer in streaming mode with configurable max_buffer_input_shards parameter
- Add batch(by_column=...) method to batch examples by a specified column, useful for robotics datasets
- Add Apache Iceberg format support
- Add TsFile (Apache IoTDB) packaged builder with per-device wide format
- Add 3D mesh support and MeshFolder builder
- Add .conll / .conllu dataset format loader for CoNLL-2003, 2000, and U formats
- Add num_proc argument to Dataset.to_sql
### Changed
#### 5.0.0 (2026-06-05)
- Default shuffling mechanism now uses multiple input shards instead of single shard
- Support fsspec 2026.4.0
- Pass library_name and version to HfApi in dataset push and delete paths
### Fixed
#### 5.0.1 (2026-07-28)
- Fix version string in __init__.py
- Fix conda build
- Fix JSON loader schema inference for files starting with a UTF-8 BOM
- Fix batch(by_column=...) crashing after shard/shuffle/split
- Fix traces streaming
- Fix lance auth
- Fix resuming dataloader twice resetting the dataloader
- Validate Arrow IPC record batches
- Make the dataset fingerprint independent of Arrow chunking
- Fix casting a nullable LargeList to a different inner type
- Fix column drop in Arrow path of axis=1 concatenation
- Raise on length mismatch in batched IterableDataset.map
- Fix require_storage_embed recursing into require_storage_cast
- Fix hdf5 external files
- Keep flat numeric columns with nulls numeric in numpy format
- Fix CSV loader dropping on_bad_lines/encoding_errors on pandas 2.0-2.2
#### 5.0.0 (2026-06-05)
- Fix storage_options lookup for streaming Lance datasets
- Fix Parquet streaming hangs at the end of script
- Fix parquet reshard
- Fix parquet columns argument
- Fix progress bar exceeding total when load_from_cache_file=False in map operation
- Fix single lance file from pylance 7.0
### Security
#### 5.0.1 (2026-07-28)
- Fix symlink-following arbitrary file write in archive extraction
- Fix path traversal via metadata file_name in folder-based builders
## Release notes
### 5.0.1
- Date: 2026-07-28
- Version: 5.0.1
- Original notes: https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/releases/tag/5.0.1
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/hugging-face-datasets/releases/5.0.1
- **fixed** — Fix version string in __init__.py
- **fixed** — Fix conda build
- **fixed** — Fix JSON loader schema inference for files starting with a UTF-8 BOM
- **added** — Support hermes traces
- **fixed** — Fix batch(by_column=...) crashing after shard/shuffle/split
- **fixed** — Fix traces streaming
- **added** — Support droid agent traces
- **fixed** — Fix lance auth
- **security** — Fix symlink-following arbitrary file write in archive extraction
- **fixed** — Fix resuming dataloader twice resetting the dataloader
- **fixed** — Validate Arrow IPC record batches
- **fixed** — Make the dataset fingerprint independent of Arrow chunking
- **fixed** — Fix casting a nullable LargeList to a different inner type
- **fixed** — Fix column drop in Arrow path of axis=1 concatenation
- **fixed** — Raise on length mismatch in batched IterableDataset.map
- **fixed** — Fix require_storage_embed recursing into require_storage_cast
- **security** — Fix path traversal via metadata file_name in folder-based builders
- **added** — Support batched=True in Dataset.to_dict
- **fixed** — Fix hdf5 external files
- **fixed** — Keep flat numeric columns with nulls numeric in numpy format
- **fixed** — Fix CSV loader dropping on_bad_lines/encoding_errors on pandas 2.0-2.2
##### Bug fixes
* Fix version string in __init__.py by @qgallouedec in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8244
* fix conda build by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8250
* Fix JSON loader schema inference for files starting with a UTF-8 BOM (#8241) by @archievi in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8243
* Support hermes traces by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8255
* Fix batch(by_column=...) crashing after shard/shuffle/split by @pkooij in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8259
* fix traces streaming by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8277
* support droid agent traces by @cfahlgren1 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8263
* Fix CI: commit operation equality (hfh 1.20.0) and pytest parametrize collection error by @Wauplin in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8283
* Fix lance auth by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8301
* Fix symlink-following arbitrary file write in archive extraction by @AAtomical in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8303
* Bug Fix: Resuming Twice Resets the Dataloader by @francesco-bertolotti in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8295
* Bump fsspec and simpler wds compr by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8337
* fix: validate Arrow IPC record batches by @XciD in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8350
* Make the dataset fingerprint independent of Arrow chunking by @SuryanshSS1011 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8339
* Fix casting a nullable LargeList to a different inner type by @vineethsaivs in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8346
* docs: replace AutoFeatureExtractor with AutoImageProcessor in image preprocessing docs by @gautamkishore in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8326
* Fix column drop in Arrow path of axis=1 concatenation by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8342
* Raise on length mismatch in batched IterableDataset.map by @sohumt123 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8332
* Fix require_storage_embed recursing into require_storage_cast by @vineethsaivs in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8349
* Fix path traversal via metadata file_name in folder-based builders by @Kaif10 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8325
* Support batched=True in Dataset.to_dict by @vineethsaivs in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8333
* Fix hdf5 external files by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8355
* remove bad require_storage test by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8357
* ensure fiels are in repo by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8356
* Keep flat numeric columns with nulls numeric in numpy format by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8352
* Fix bucket dataset card handling and push metadata accounting by @pjh4993 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8354
* Fix CSV loader dropping on_bad_lines/encoding_errors on pandas 2.0-2.2 by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8358
* Keep integers on the python read path for fixed-shape ArrayXD columns with nulls by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8363
* Rebatch arrow source before formatting in IterableDataset.filter to fix resume data loss by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8360
* Decode Json() columns in Dataset.to_pandas() by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8344
* fix buckets on windows by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8369
* Fix DatasetDict.push_to_hub leaving removed splits in the dataset card by @pjh4993 in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8367
* Preserve nullable integer columns in to_json/to_csv/to_sql by @ebarkhordar in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull
_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/releases/tag/5.0.1]_
### 5.0.0
- Date: 2026-06-05
- Version: 5.0.0
- Original notes: https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/releases/tag/5.0.0
- Permalink: https://whatsnew.fyi/product/hugging-face-datasets/releases/5.0.0
- **added** — Parse Agent traces messages for SFT using the teich library to enable training on traces from claude_code, pi, codex and other sources
- **added** — Use multiple input shards for shuffle buffer in streaming mode with configurable max_buffer_input_shards parameter
- **added** — Add batch(by_column=...) method to batch examples by a specified column, useful for robotics datasets
- **added** — Add Apache Iceberg format support
- **added** — Add TsFile (Apache IoTDB) packaged builder with per-device wide format
- **added** — Add 3D mesh support and MeshFolder builder
- **added** — Add .conll / .conllu dataset format loader for CoNLL-2003, 2000, and U formats
- **added** — Add num_proc argument to Dataset.to_sql
- **changed** — Default shuffling mechanism now uses multiple input shards instead of single shard
- **changed** — Support fsspec 2026.4.0
- **changed** — Pass library_name and version to HfApi in dataset push and delete paths
- **fixed** — Fix storage_options lookup for streaming Lance datasets
- **fixed** — Fix Parquet streaming hangs at the end of script
- **fixed** — Fix parquet reshard
- **fixed** — Fix parquet columns argument
- **fixed** — Fix progress bar exceeding total when load_from_cache_file=False in map operation
- **fixed** — Fix single lance file from pylance 7.0
##### Datasets Features
###### Agent traces
* Parse Agent traces messages for SFT using `teich` by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8232
* Agent traces from claude_code/pi/codex and others can now be loaded with load_dataset
* Using the `teich` library (new optional dependency), traces are parsed to `messages` to enable training on traces using e.g. `trl`
* Load the data:
```python
>>> from datasets import load_dataset
>>> ds = load_dataset("lhoestq/agent-traces-example", split="train")
>>> ds[0]["messages"]
[{'role': 'user', 'content': 'Download a random dataset from Hugging Face, use DuckDB to inspect it, and come back with a short report about it. Be concise and include: dataset name, what files/format you found, row count or rough size if you can determine it,...'
...]
```
* Train on agent traces:
```bash
trl sft --dataset-name lhoestq/agent-traces-example ...
```
* find all the Agent traces datasets on HF here: https://huggingface.co/datasets?format=format:agent-traces&sort=trending
###### Next-level shuffling in streaming mode
* Use multiple input shards for shuffle buffer by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8194
```python
ds = load_dataset(..., streaming=True)
ds = ds.shuffle(seed=42)
# or configure local buffer shuffling manually, default is:
ds = ds.shuffle(seed=42, buffer_size=1000, max_buffer_input_shards=10)
```
before👎:
after✨:
toy example comparison
```python
from datasets import IterableDataset
ds = IterableDataset.from_dict({"i": range(123_456_789)}, num_shards=1024)
ds = ds.shuffle(seed=42)
print("Cold start ids:")
print(list(ds.take(10)["i"]))
print("Nominal regime ids:")
print(list(ds.skip(10_000).take(10)["i"]))
```
before👎:
```
Cold start ids:
[6148853, 6149537, 6149418, 6149202, 6149197, 6149622, 6148849, 6149461, 6148965, 6148858]
Nominal regime ids:
[6149537, 6149418, 6149202, 6149197, 6149622, 6148849, 6149461, 6148965, 6148858, 6149290]
```
after✨:
```
Cold start ids:
[7836668, 9283505, 95847927, 482299, 9283471, 482341, 112003312, 59920157, 43764666, 95847871]
Nominal regime ids:
[9283505, 95847927, 482299, 9283471, 482341, 112003312, 59920157, 43764666, 95847871, 16758448]
```
Note: `ds.state_dict()` and `ds.load_state_dict()` are still supported for this improved shuffling :) enabling dataset checkpointing
Note 2: it uses threads to fetch the first examples in parallel from the input shards
Note 3: This is a BREAKING CHANGE: the default shuffling mechanism now uses multiple input shards. You can get the old mechanism by passing `max_buffer_input_shards=1` to `IterableDataset.shuffle()`
###### New batching features for robotics datasets
* Add batch(by_column=...) by @lhoestq in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8172
```python
from datasets import Dataset
ds = Dataset.from_dict({"episode": [0] * 10 + [1] * 10, "frame": list(range(10)) * 2})
# ds = ds.to_iterable_dataset()
ds = ds.batch(by_column="episode")
for x in ds:
print(x)
# {'episode': [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], 'frame': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}
# {'episode': [1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1], 'frame': [0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]}
```
###### New supported formats
* Add Apache Iceberg format support by @frankliee in https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/pull/8148
* feat: add TsFile (Apache IoTDB) packaged builder with per-device wide format by @JackieTien97 in https://githu
_[Truncated at 4000 characters — full notes: https://github.com/huggingface/datasets/releases/tag/5.0.0]_