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What is Object Storage?

Object storage keeps files as addressable objects with metadata in buckets rather than as filesystem paths or disk blocks. Services such as Amazon S3 commonly expose objects through HTTP APIs.

How Object Storage works

Object storage assigns an opaque key to a byte payload and an associated metadata record within a bucket or namespace. Clients operate through service APIs instead of opening files and modifying disk blocks, and a replaced object is generally written as a new complete value. Flat key spaces may be presented as folders by interpreting delimiters, but those directories are a user-interface convention. Media platforms use this layer for originals, renditions, manifests, and archives, while databases or catalogs track richer relationships.

Key facts

  1. Object keys are identifiers, not portable filesystem paths; characters, case rules, listing behavior, and maximum lengths depend on the service API.
  2. HTTP range requests let compatible clients retrieve selected byte spans from large media objects, supporting probing and seeking without a full download.
  3. Versioning can retain overwritten or deleted generations, but lifecycle rules, replication, access policy, and retention locks must be configured separately.

When Object Storage matters

Store originals and processing results as objects when applications need durable, scalable network access. Choose keys, retention, versioning, and permissions carefully because renames and directory semantics are limited.

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