You can also use Data Pump to downgrade an Oracle Database; for example, move all data and metadata from Oracle 12.1 to a database using 11.2.0.3.
To achieve this goal, you need to obtain a downward compatible dump file by setting the export (expdp) parameter VERSION to 11.2.0.3 (the target database release) as shown in the following command:
$ expdp fcomunoz/alvarez@pdborcl directory=datapump dumpfile=version_full_06192013.dmp full=y version=11.2.0.3
Note
The import utility (impdp) cannot read dump files created by a later release unless it was created using the VERSION parameter to set the release number of the target database.
This is the error message I got when trying to import data exported from a 12.1.0 database into an 11.2.0.3 database without using the VERSION parameter when executing the export operation:
Import: Release 11.2.0.3.0 - Production on Wed Jun 19 15:57:58 2013 Copyright (c) 1982, 2011, Oracle and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved...
