Files kept separately from an app
An app can save a customer document or product photo in object storage and retrieve it later. The file stays on the storage provider’s servers, separate from the server running the app. Each stored item, called an object, has a name and details such as its file type.
Providers often group objects into buckets. A bucket is a named collection within an object storage service. Amazon S3 uses buckets, so an “S3 bucket” is one in that service.
Decide who can see files
Teams decide which files are public or private and how long to keep them. Making a bucket public by mistake can expose customer files. For records that need frequent searches or updates, an app usually uses a database.