Download an Archive from a Vault in Amazon Glacier by Using the Amazon SDK for Java - Amazon Glacier
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.

Download an Archive from a Vault in Amazon Glacier by Using the Amazon SDK for Java

The following Java code example uses the high-level API of the Amazon SDK for Java to download the archive that you uploaded in the previous step. In the code example, note the following:

  • The example creates an instance of the AmazonGlacierClient class.

  • The code uses the US West (Oregon) Region (us-west-2) to match the location where you created the vault in Step 2: Create a Vault in Amazon Glacier.

  • The example uses the download API operation of the ArchiveTransferManager class from the high-level API of the Amazon SDK for Java. The example creates an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and an Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) queue that is subscribed to that topic. If you created an Amazon Identity and Access Management (IAM) admin user as instructed in Step 1: Before You Begin with Amazon Glacier, your user has the necessary IAM permissions for the creation and use of the Amazon SNS topic and Amazon SQS queue.

For step-by-step instructions on how to run this example, see Running Java Examples for Amazon Glacier Using Eclipse. You must update the code as shown with the archive ID of the file that you uploaded in Step 3: Upload an Archive to a Vault in Amazon Glacier.

Example — Downloading an Archive by Using the Amazon SDK for Java
import java.io.File;
import java.io.IOException;

import com.amazonaws.auth.profile.ProfileCredentialsProvider;
import com.amazonaws.services.glacier.AmazonGlacierClient;
import com.amazonaws.services.glacier.transfer.ArchiveTransferManager;
import com.amazonaws.services.sns.AmazonSNSClient;
import com.amazonaws.services.sqs.AmazonSQSClient;

public class AmazonGlacierDownloadArchive_GettingStarted {
    public static String vaultName = "examplevault";
    public static String archiveId = "*** provide archive ID ***";
    public static String downloadFilePath  = "*** provide location to download archive ***";
    
    public static AmazonGlacierClient glacierClient;
    public static AmazonSQSClient sqsClient;
    public static AmazonSNSClient snsClient;
    
    public static void main(String[] args) throws IOException {
        
        
    	ProfileCredentialsProvider credentials = new ProfileCredentialsProvider();
    	
        glacierClient = new AmazonGlacierClient(credentials);        
        sqsClient = new AmazonSQSClient(credentials);
        snsClient = new AmazonSNSClient(credentials);
        
        glacierClient.setEndpoint("glacier.us-west-2.amazonaws.com");
        sqsClient.setEndpoint("sqs.us-west-2.amazonaws.com");
        snsClient.setEndpoint("sns.us-west-2.amazonaws.com");

        try {
            ArchiveTransferManager atm = new ArchiveTransferManager(glacierClient, sqsClient, snsClient);
            
            atm.download(vaultName, archiveId, new File(downloadFilePath));
            
        } catch (Exception e)
        {
            System.err.println(e);
        }
    }
}