ColumnFamilies can set a TTL length in seconds, and HBase will automatically delete rows once the expiration time is reached. This applies to all versions of a row - even the current one. The TTL time encoded in the HBase for the row is specified in UTC.

Store files which contains only expired rows are deleted on minor compaction. Setting hbase.store.delete.expired.storefile to false disables this feature. Setting minimum number of versions to other than 0 also disables this.

See HColumnDescriptor for more information.