What is Object Storage? The modern storage solution

Object storage is a data storage architecture in which data is stored as objects rather than as files or blocks. Also known as object-based storage, this system is widely used in professional environments, and many cloud providers include this modern storage method in their offerings

What is object storage?

While file storage stores data as complete files and block storage splits files into equally sized blocks, object storage saves data as objects. You can think of an object as a package that contains not only the data itself but also extensive metadata and a unique ID. This ID allows for a flat structure — instead of being stored in a complex folder hierarchy, data in object-based storage is organised side by side. The actual storage location (local or remote) is irrelevant.

Unlike traditional file-based storage, metadata in object storage is fully customisable. Instead of only storing basic details like name, creation date, or file type, you can assign unique metadata to each object. For example, you can include information from the associated application or insert user data.

Access to the data—i.e., communication with the storage system—is handled via HTTP or HTTPS, and through a REST or S3 API. This makes connecting clients to object storage extremely straightforward. With just a few commands, you can interact with the storage:

• PUT: creates an object
• GET: reads an object
• DELETE: deletes an object
• LIST: lists all objects

Object storage has become the standard for cloud-native applications and is especially popular for AI workloads, data mining (big data analysis), backup and archiving solutions, as well as in Content Delivery Networks (CDNs). Well-known services that use object storage include Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, and Azure Blob Storage.

The advantages and disadvantages of object-based storage

Object storage stands out for several key advantages. One of the main benefits is fast access thanks to its flat structure. Instead of users having to specify where data is stored, the system handles this automatically. Users don’t need to know the physical location of an object—what matters is its unique ID, which allows it to be quickly located and retrieved. This makes object storage particularly well suited for use in a public cloud, where storage space can be utilised efficiently.

The flat structure also makes object storage highly scalable. When more resources are needed, additional capacity can be added simply by introducing a new storage node. Another key advantage lies in the rich, customisable metadata, which allows for much more advanced data analysis compared to other storage methods. This is especially important for AI-driven analytics. Modern object storage systems often offer automated metadata extraction as well as AI-powered search. The latter enables automatic content recognition and intelligent metadata tagging.

Object storage doesn’t perform particularly well when it comes to modifying data. While data can be retrieved quickly, updating objects is more cumbersome. Instead of editing data directly, a completely new object must be created each time. For this reason, object storage is well suited for handling large volumes of data, but primarily when that data is static. If frequent changes are required, object-based storage loses its advantages, as it is optimised for sequential writing and infrequent access.

Object storage vs file storage vs block storage

Which storage method is the best? That depends largely on how it’s going to be used. Block, object, or file storage — each method has its own characteristics and is therefore suited to different tasks.