Object storage

Files are stored as objects with a key and metadata in a flat namespace, served over HTTP. It is the right home for images, videos, backups and data lake files, not for data you update in place.

Where it shows up in real systems

  • Object storage

    Practically unlimited capacity and eleven nines of durability, but each request takes tens of milliseconds and throughput is limited per key prefix. Put a CDN in front for public files; infrequent-access classes are cheaper to store but charge per retrieval.

    In production: Amazon S3, Azure Blob Storage, Google Cloud Storage, Cloudflare R2, MinIO

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