All Products
Search
Document Center

Object Storage Service:Overview

Last Updated:Jan 16, 2024

Object Storage Service (OSS) provides the following storage classes for various data storage scenarios from hot data storage to cold data storage: Standard, Infrequent Access (IA), Archive, Cold Archive, and Deep Cold Archive.

Note

For more information about the pricing for each storage class, visit the OSS pricing page. For more information about the billing method for each storage class, see Storage fees.

Standard

Standard provides highly reliable, highly available, and high-performance object storage for data that is frequently accessed. Standard is suitable for various business applications, such as social networking applications, image, audio, and video resource sharing applications, large websites, and big data analytics. Standard supports the following data redundancy mechanisms:

  • Standard LRS

    Locally redundant storage (LRS) stores multiple copies of your data on multiple devices of different facilities in the same zone. LRS provides data durability and availability even if hardware failures occur.

    Important

    LRS stores multiple data copies in a single zone. If the zone becomes unavailable, data in the zone is inaccessible. If your business application requires higher availability, we recommend that you use zone-redundant storage (ZRS).

  • Standard ZRS

    ZRS stores multiple copies of your data across multiple zones in the same region. Your data is still accessible even if a zone becomes unavailable.

    Note

    Standard zone-redundant storage (ZRS) is supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), and Germany (Frankfurt).

IA

IA provides highly durable storage at lower prices compared with Standard. IA has a minimum billable size of 64 KB and a minimum billable storage duration of 30 days. IA is suitable for data that is infrequently accessed, such as data accessed once or twice a month. You can access IA objects in real time. You are charged data retrieval fees when you access IA objects. IA supports the following data redundancy mechanisms:

Note

If the size of an IA object is smaller than 64 KB, you are charged for the minimum billable size. If an IA object is stored for less than the minimum billable storage duration of 30 days, you are charged for the remainder of the minimum billable storage duration. For more information, see Storage fees.

  • IA LRS

    LRS stores multiple copies of your data on multiple devices of different facilities in the same zone. LRS provides data durability and availability even if hardware failures occur.

    Important

    LRS stores multiple data copies in a single zone. If the zone becomes unavailable, data in the zone is inaccessible. If your business application requires higher availability, we recommend that you use ZRS.

  • IA ZRS

    ZRS stores multiple copies of your data across multiple zones in the same region. Your data is still accessible even if a zone becomes unavailable.

    Note

    IA ZRS is supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), and Germany (Frankfurt).

Archive

Archive provides high-durability storage at lower prices compared with Standard and IA. Archive has a minimum billable size of 64 KB and a minimum billable storage duration of 60 days. You can access an Archive object after it is restored or real-time access of Archive objects is enabled. The amount of time that is required to restore an Archive object is approximately 1 minute. You are charged data retrieval fees if you restore an Archive object. If you access an Archive object after real-time access of Archive objects is enabled, you are charged Archive data retrieval fees based on the size of accessed Archive data. Archive is suitable for data that needs to be stored for a long period of time and rarely accessed, such as archival data, medical images, scientific materials, and video footage. Archive supports the following data redundancy mechanisms:

Note

If the size of an Archive object is smaller than 64 KB, you are charged for the minimum billable size. If an Archive object is stored for less than the minimum billable storage duration of 60 days, you are charged for the remainder of the minimum billable storage duration. For more information, see Storage fees.

  • Archive LRS

    LRS stores multiple copies of your data on multiple devices of different facilities in the same zone. LRS provides data durability and availability even if hardware failures occur.

    Important

    LRS stores multiple data copies in a single zone. If the zone becomes unavailable, data in the zone is inaccessible. If your business application requires higher availability, we recommend that you use ZRS.

  • Archive ZRS

    ZRS stores multiple copies of your data across multiple zones in the same region. Your data is still accessible even if a zone becomes unavailable.

    Note

    Archive ZRS is supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Hong Kong), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta), and Germany (Frankfurt).

Cold Archive

Cold Archive provides highly durable storage at lower prices compared with Archive. Cold Archive has a minimum billable size of 64 KB and a minimum billable storage duration of 180 days. You must restore a Cold Archive object before you can access it. The amount of time required to restore a Cold Archive object varies based on the object size and restoration priority. You are charged data retrieval fees and API operation calling fees when you restore Cold Archive objects. Cold Archive is suitable for cold data that needs to be stored for an extended period of time, including data that must be retained for an extended period of time to meet compliance requirements, raw data that is accumulated over an extended period of time in the big data and AI fields, retained media resources in the film and television industries, and archived videos in the online education industry.

Note
  • Cold Archive is supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Qingdao), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Hohhot), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), China (Heyuan), China (Guangzhou), China (Chengdu), China (Hong Kong), US (Silicon Valley), US (Virginia), Japan (Tokyo), Singapore, Australia (Sydney), Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur), Indonesia (Jakarta), Philippines (Manila), India (Mumbai), Germany (Frankfurt), UK (London), and UAE (Dubai).

  • If the size of a Cold Archive object is smaller than 64 KB, you are charged for the minimum billable size. If a Cold Archive object is stored for less than the minimum billable storage duration of 180 days, you are charged for the remainder of the minimum billable storage duration. For more information, see Storage fees.

Deep Cold Archive

Deep Cold Archive provides highly durable storage at lower prices compared with Cold Archive. Deep Cold Archive has a minimum billable size of 64 KB and a minimum billable storage duration of 180 days. You must restore a Deep Cold Archive object before you can access it. The amount of time that is required to restore a Deep Cold Archive object varies based on the object size and restoration priority. You are charged data retrieval fees and API operation calling fees when you restore Deep Cold Archive objects. Deep Cold Archive is suitable for extremely cold data that needs to be stored for an extremely long period of time, including raw data that is accumulated over an extended period of time in the big data and AI fields, retained media resources, regulatory and compliance documents, and data that is archived by using tapes.

Note
  • Deep Cold Archive is supported in the following regions: China (Hangzhou), China (Shanghai), China (Beijing), China (Zhangjiakou), China (Ulanqab), China (Shenzhen), and Singapore.

  • If the size of a Deep Cold Archive object is smaller than 64 KB, you are charged for the minimum billable size. If a Deep Cold Archive object is stored for less than the minimum billable storage duration of 180 days, you are charged for the remainder of the minimum billable storage duration. For more information, see Storage fees.

Differences between storage classes

Item

Standard LRS

Standard ZRS

IA LRS

IA ZRS

Archive LRS

Archive ZRS

Cold Archive

Deep Cold Archive

Data durability (designed for)

99.999999999% (eleven 9's)

99.9999999999% (twelve 9's)

99.999999999% (eleven 9's)

99.9999999999% (twelve 9's)

99.999999999% (eleven 9's)

99.9999999999% (twelve 9's)

99.999999999% (eleven 9's)

99.999999999% (eleven 9's)

Service availability

99.99%

99.995%

99.00%

99.50%

99.00% (after data is restored or real-time access of Archive objects is enabled)

99.50% (after data is restored)

99.00% (after data is restored)

99.00% (after data is restored)

Minimum billable size

None

None

64 KB

64 KB

64 KB

64 KB

64 KB

64 KB

Minimum storage duration

None

None

30 days

30 days

60 days

60 days

180 days

180 days

Data retrieval fees

None

None

Based on the size of retrieved data. Unit: GB.

Based on the size of retrieved data. Unit: GB.

Based on the size of restored data or the size of directly accessed Archive data. Unit: GB.

Based on the size of restored data. Unit: GB.

Based on the size of restored data and the selected data retrieval priority. Unit: GB.

Based on the size of restored data and the selected data retrieval priority. Unit: GB.

Data access

Real-time access with milliseconds of latency.

Real-time access with milliseconds of latency.

Real-time access with milliseconds of latency.

Real-time access with milliseconds of latency.

If real-time access of Archive objects is not enabled, you must first restore data before you can read the data. The amount of time required to restore an Archive object is approximately 1 minute. If real-time access of Archive objects is enabled, you can access data in real time with milliseconds of latency.

If real-time access of Archive objects is not enabled, you must first restore data before you can read the data. The amount of time required to restore an Archive object is approximately 1 minute. If real-time access of Archive objects is enabled, you can access data in real time with milliseconds of latency.

Data can be read after data is restored. The amount of time required to restore a Cold Archive object varies based on the restoration priority of the object. For more information about the restoration time in different restoration priorities, see Restore objects.

Data can be read after data is restored. The amount of time required to restore a Deep Cold Archive object varies based on the restoration priority of the object. For more information about the restoration time in different restoration priorities, see Restore objects.

Image processing (IMG)

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported

Supported after data is restored or real-time access of Archive objects is enabled.

Supported after data is restored.

Supported after data is restored.

Supported after data is restored.

Scenarios

Social networking applications, image, audio, and video resource sharing applications, websites, big data analytics, and more. Examples: program download and mobile applications.

Social networking applications, image, audio, and video resource sharing applications, websites, and big data analytics, and more. Data that requires higher availability and durability. Examples: important documents of enterprises and sensitive information.

Infrequently accessed data (accessed once or twice a month). Examples: hot backup data and surveillance video data.

Infrequently accessed data (accessed once or twice a month) that requires higher data durability and availability. Examples: enterprise business data and recent medical records.

Data that requires long-term storage. Examples: archival data, medical images, scientific materials, and video materials.

Data that requires long-term storage, higher availability, and higher durability. Examples: archival data, medical images, scientific materials, and video materials.

Cold data that requires long-term storage. Examples: data that must be retained for an extended period of time due to compliance requirements, raw data that is accumulated over an extended period of time in the big data and AI fields, retained media resources in the film and television industries, and archived videos from the online education industry.

Extremely cold data that needs to be stored for an extremely long period of time. Examples: raw data that is accumulated over an extended period of time in the big data and AI fields, retained media resources, regulatory and compliance documents, and data that is archived by using tapes.

OSS charges data retrieval fees based on the amount of data read from the underlying distributed storage system. Fees for data transmitted over the Internet are included in the bills of outbound traffic.