Accessing Amazon Glacier - Amazon Glacier
Regions and Endpoints
Services or capabilities described in Amazon Web Services documentation might vary by Region. To see the differences applicable to the China Regions, see Getting Started with Amazon Web Services in China (PDF).

This page is only for existing customers of the Amazon Glacier service using Vaults and the original REST API from 2012.

If you're looking for archival storage solutions, we recommend using the Amazon Glacier storage classes in Amazon S3, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive. To learn more about these storage options, see Amazon Glacier storage classes.

Amazon Glacier (original standalone vault-based service) will no longer accept new customers starting December 15, 2025, with no impact to existing customers. Amazon Glacier is a standalone service with its own APIs that stores data in vaults and is distinct from Amazon S3 and the Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes. Your existing data will remain secure and accessible in Amazon Glacier indefinitely. No migration is required. For low-cost, long-term archival storage, Amazon recommends the Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes, which deliver a superior customer experience with S3 bucket-based APIs, full Amazon Web Services Region availability, lower costs, and Amazon service integration. If you want enhanced capabilities, consider migrating to Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes by using our Amazon Solutions Guidance for transferring data from Amazon Glacier vaults to Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes.

Accessing Amazon Glacier

Amazon Glacier is a RESTful web service that uses HTTP and HTTPS as a transport protocol and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as a message-serialization format. Your application code can make requests directly to the Amazon Glacier web service API. When using the REST API directly, you must write the necessary code to sign and authenticate your requests. For more information about the API, see API Reference for Amazon Glacier.

Alternatively, you can simplify application development by using the Amazon SDKs that wrap the Amazon Glacier REST API calls. You provide your credentials, and these libraries take care of authentication and request signing. For more information about using the Amazon SDKs, see Using the Amazon SDKs with Amazon Glacier.

Amazon Glacier also provides a console. However, all archive and job operations require you to write code and make requests by using either the REST API directly or the Amazon SDK wrapper libraries. To access the Amazon Glacier console, go to Amazon Glacier Console.

Regions and Endpoints

You create a vault in a specific Amazon Web Services Region. You always send your Amazon Glacier requests to an endpoint specific to an Amazon Web Services Region. For a list of the Amazon Web Services Regions supported by Amazon Glacier, see Amazon Glacier endpoints and quotas in the Amazon General Reference.