Object storage is a way of storing data in a non-hierarchical structure, using unique identifiers to access each object. This method is particularly useful for large-scale amounts of data, as it allows for easy scalability and flexibility in managing vast amounts of data.
Unlike traditional file block storage, object storage does not rely on a file system hierarchy, making it a more efficient and adaptable solution.
For example, imagine a cloud-based photo storage service. Instead of organizing photos into folders and subfolders, object storage assigns a unique identifier to each photo. This allows for quick and easy retrieval of photos, regardless of how many there are or where they are stored. This approach is ideal for applications that require the storage and retrieval of large volumes of unstructured data, such as media files, backups, and archives.
Object storage was pioneered by Amazon S3 and is increasingly used in observability given the vast amounts of data in observability.