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Storage
Object storage
Cheap, durable blob storage for media, documents, backups and data-lake files.
When to use
- Photos, videos, file chunks, logs
Pitfalls
- Not a database: listing and small random updates are slow
- Use pre-signed URLs so clients upload directly
Options by provider
The first option is what diagrams show for that provider.
Amazon Web Services
- Amazon S3Managed
Google Cloud
- Cloud StorageManaged
Microsoft Azure
- Azure Blob StorageManaged
Open source / self-hosted
- MinIOSelf-hosted
- CephSelf-hosted
Related concepts
Used in
- YouTube
- Video storage — Raw uploads, encoded segments and thumbnails
- Netflix
- Media storage — Masters and every encoded rendition
- Instagram
- Media storage — Original and resized photos and videos
- Twitter / X
- Media storage — Uploaded images and video
- WhatsApp / Messenger
- Media storage — Encrypted attachments
- Amazon
- Product images — Original and resized images
- Search autocomplete
- Log archive — Days of query history for rebuilding
- Web crawler
- Page store — Raw fetched pages
- Pastebin
- Paste content — The text itself
- Dropbox
- Block storage — Content-addressed 4 MB blocks
- Google Maps
- Tile storage — Pre-rendered vector tiles
- Video calling (WebRTC)
- Recordings — Finished recordings
- Airbnb
- Photos — Original and resized images
- NoBroker
- Photos — Uploaded images
- Porter / goods delivery
- Proof of delivery — Photos and signatures
- Driver booking & fleet management
- Driver documents — Encrypted KYC files
- Practo / teleconsultation
- Encrypted records — Health documents