AWS Certified Solutions Architect – Associate (SAA-C02) — Question 782

A company is building an application that gives users the ability to upload video files. The company needs to store the video files securely in Amazon S3 for future access. The total storage requirement for the video files will grow to many petabytes. Users will rarely access the stored video files, but the stored video files must be available within minutes when users request access. The company needs to minimize storage costs.
Which S3 storage class should a solutions architect choose to meet these requirements?

Answer options

• A. S3 Glacier
• B. S3 Standard
• C. S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA)
• D. S3 One Zone-Infrequent Access (S3 One Zone-IA)

Correct answer: C

Explanation

S3 Standard-Infrequent Access (S3 Standard-IA) is the ideal choice because it offers rapid access (within milliseconds/minutes) for data that is accessed less frequently, while maintaining high durability across multiple Availability Zones at a lower storage price point than S3 Standard. S3 Glacier typically requires hours for standard retrievals, and while expedited retrieval is possible, it is not cost-effective for frequent or large-scale minute-level access. S3 One Zone-IA is cheaper but stores data in a single Availability Zone, which does not provide the multi-AZ redundancy needed to securely store petabytes of critical user files.