Object Storage

Object Storage is a storage principle in which data is stored not in classic files or blocks, but as objects with metadata in a flat structure. This makes the approach particularly scalable and flexible for large, growing volumes of unstructured data.

Access is API-based, usually via the S3-compatible interface, which has established itself as the de facto standard. Typical fields of application are archives, backups, media content, data lakes and cloud-native applications. Features such as versioning and object lock (immutable objects for defined periods) also make object storage a preferred target for tamper-proof backups. For transaction-intensive databases or latency-critical applications, on the other hand, block or file architectures are usually better suited.

Object storage is one of the three fundamental storage architectures alongside block and file storage and is often obtained as a cloud service or Storage as a Service (STaaS). In modern backup, cloud and AI scenarios, it is a central building block of Data Management.