Glossary/Data & Martech/ETL / ELT
Data & Martech
ETL / ELT
Extract, Transform, Load (or Extract, Load, Transform): processes that move data from sources into a warehouse, transforming it before or after loading.
By Brandon Mina·CEO, BrandPilot AI·Updated November 2026
Short answer
ETL (extract, transform, load) and ELT (extract, load, transform) are processes that move data from source systems into a data warehouse. ETL cleans and reshapes data before loading it, while ELT loads raw data first and transforms it inside the warehouse. ELT has become common because cloud warehouses handle large transformations efficiently.