The US Library of Congress lists SQLite as a Recommended Storage Format for datasets, alongside XML, JSON, and CSV.
Key Takeaways
LoC Recommended Storage Formats maximize survival and accessibility of digital content based on seven criteria: disclosure, adoption, transparency, self-documentation, external dependencies, patent impact, and technical protection.
SQLite meets all seven criteria: open spec, wide adoption, single-file transparency, low OS dependency, no patent encumbrance.
The SQLite file format spec is publicly documented and readable with basic tools, satisfying both the disclosure and transparency criteria directly.
As of the original 2018 LoC designation, SQLite was one of only four recommended dataset formats; the 2026 LoC page may list additional formats.
Hacker News Comment Review
Commenters broadly converged on SQLite as the right default for solo or small-team apps: go binary + SQLite + systemd is a common production stack with no reported data loss.
The single-writer limitation is less constraining than assumed; WAL mode on modern NVMe can sustain 5k-180k writes/second depending on batch optimization.
Enterprise bans on SQLite exist not for reliability reasons but for data-governance risk: a database that looks like a file can be copied anywhere, including PII across servers.
Notable Comments
@alexpotato: firms ban SQLite because PII-laden database files are indistinguishable from ordinary files and can be silently copied across servers.
@tnelsond4: built a read-only alternative to SQLite with zstd compression and a 38kb WASM footprint for cases where write support is unnecessary.
