AWS S3
Summary
What it is
Amazon's fully managed object storage service — the origin and reference implementation of the S3 API.
Where it fits
AWS S3 is the gravitational center of the ecosystem. It defined the API that became the de-facto standard, and most tools in this index were built to work with AWS S3 first and other providers second.
Misconceptions / Traps
- AWS S3 is now strongly consistent (read-after-write), but code written against the old eventual consistency model may still contain unnecessary workarounds.
- S3 storage is cheap; S3 API calls and egress are not. Cost optimization requires understanding request pricing and transfer charges, not just storage GB.
Key Connections
implementsS3 API — the reference implementation of the standardenablesLakehouse Architecture — provides the storage layer for lakehousesenablesSeparation of Storage and Compute — foundational to the patternused_byMedallion Architecture — each layer stores data on S3constrained_byObject Listing Performance, Lack of Atomic Rename, Egress Cost — key operational limitations
Definition
What it is
Amazon's fully managed object storage service. The original implementation that defined the S3 API and established object storage as a category.
Why it exists
To provide scalable, durable, low-cost storage accessible over HTTP, decoupled from any specific compute or filesystem.
Primary use cases
Data lake storage, static asset hosting, backup and archival, analytics data staging, ML training data storage.
Relationships
Outbound Relationships
scoped_toimplementsused_byInbound Relationships
indexesResources
The canonical entry point for all official Amazon S3 documentation, covering every API, feature, and configuration option.
The S3 REST API reference is the foundation that every S3-compatible system implements against; this is the de facto S3 protocol spec.
Official product page with feature overview, pricing, storage classes, and customer stories.
AWS's official storage blog announces new S3 features, best practices, and architectural guidance from the team that builds S3.