AWS Glacier

Archive storage service delivering secure, durable object storage at low cost for data that is rarely accessed. Designed for long-term retention with retrieval options from milliseconds to hours depending on storage class, allowing teams to balance cost with access speed.

Used by enterprises including Snap, Electronic Arts, Warner Bros, CNN, Pinterest, Canva, BBC, and Nasdaq for media preservation, compliance archiving, and backup retention. Offers 99.999999999% durability with data stored across multiple availability zones, and supports compliance standards such as SEC Rule 17a-4, HIPAA, and FedRAMP. Integrates with S3 Object Lock for WORM storage when regulatory retention is required.

Key features:

• Three storage tiers: Instant Retrieval for millisecond access, Flexible Retrieval with free bulk restores in 5–12 hours, Deep Archive for lowest-cost long-term storage
• Virtually unlimited scalability with no minimum commitments
• Encryption at rest, CloudTrail audit logging, and comprehensive access controls
• Native integration with S3 lifecycle policies, Batch Operations, and AWS Backup
• Object Lock for immutable retention to meet compliance requirements

Teams rely on it for media and entertainment archives such as video and news footage, healthcare systems retaining patient records and medical imaging for decades, and financial services meeting regulatory retention. Developers integrate via the S3 API using storage class parameters, or the Glacier API for vault-based archives, with SDK support across major languages.