■A smallfile tablespace can contain multiple data files or temp files, but the files cannot be as large as in a bigfile tablespace. This is the default tablespace type.

■A bigfile tablespace contains one very large data file or temp file. This type of tablespaces can do the following:

–Increase the storage capacity of a database

The maximum number of data files in a database is limited (usually to 64 KB files), so increasing the size of each data file increases the overall storage.

–Reduce the burden of managing many data files and temp files

Bigfile tablespaces simplify file management with Oracle Managed Files and Automatic Storage Management (Oracle ASM) by eliminating the need for adding new files and dealing with multiple files.

–Perform operations on tablespaces rather than individual files

Bigfile tablespaces make the tablespace the main unit of the disk space administration, backup and recovery, and so on.

Bigfile tablespaces are supported only for locally managed tablespaces with ASSM. However, locally managed undo and temporary tablespaces can be bigfile tablespaces even when segments are manually managed.