ORA-39142: incompatible version number 4.1 in dump file

os:

Windows

Reason for the error:

This error occurs when doing an import(impdp) into Oracle 11g(11.2.0.4) after doing an export from Oracle 12c(12.1.0.1). And it happens because version of EXPDP and IMPDP are imcompatible.

Solution:

When doing the export specify the parameter VERSION.

In this case you specify the version as 11.2 when doing the export, as you are trying to import into 11.2.

VERSION parameter should only be specified when doing the export.

If VERSION is specified when doing the import instead of export, it will still fail because import cannot recognize the dumpfile format.

Example:

expdp   hr   TABLES=hr.employees   VERSION=11.2   DIRECTORY=dump_dir    DUMPFILE=emp.dmp

Oracle documentation on VERSION parameter when doing export:

https://docs.oracle.com/database/121/SUTIL/dp_export.htm#SUTIL870