A physio-logical migration of a database from a source system to a target system may include exporting a catalog of the database in a data interchange format that preserves the hierarchical dependencies present amongst the entities included in the catalog. The physio-logical migration of the database may further include exporting the contents of a table in the database in a binary format compatible at the target system. The binary format may be a data buffer having a metadata portion, a fixed-size portion, and a page chain portion. Where the target system is a cloud-based system, the physio-logical migration of the database may include exporting the catalog and the contents of the table to a cloud-based object store before importing the catalog and the contents of the table to the target system. Related systems and articles of manufacture, including computer program products, are also provided.