To reduce the physical size of a physical log file, you must shrink the log file. This is useful when you know that a transaction log file contains unused space. You can shrink a log file only while the database is online, and at least one virtual log file (VLF) is free.

What does shrinking transaction log do?

Transaction Log Shrink

When the database Transaction Log file is truncated, the truncated space will be freed up and become available for reuse. But the Transaction Log file size will not be decreased, as the truncated space will not be deallocated.

Should you shrink log file SQL Server?

There are good reasons to shrink the log and they do revolve around space. For example: I had a one-time explosive growth of the log due to a large data load. ... We will grow the log back again after the billing period.