S3 Transfer Acceleration URL

S3 Transfer Acceleration Endpoints

S3 Transfer Acceleration uses the AWS CloudFront global network of edge locations to accelerate uploads to S3 buckets. When enabled, you use a special endpoint URL.

Endpoint Format

https://BUCKET.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/KEY

For dual-stack (IPv4 + IPv6):

https://BUCKET.s3-accelerate.dualstack.amazonaws.com/KEY

Example

https://upload-bucket.s3-accelerate.amazonaws.com/user-data/video-upload-4k.mp4

Parsed Components

Component	Value
Bucket	upload-bucket
Key	user-data/video-upload-4k.mp4
Region	(not in URL — resolved via acceleration endpoint)
Type	Transfer Acceleration

How It Works

1. Client uploads to edge — Data is sent to the nearest CloudFront edge location via the accelerate endpoint.
2. AWS backbone transfer — From the edge, data travels over AWS's optimized internal network to the S3 bucket's region.
3. Faster than internet — The AWS backbone is typically faster and more reliable than the public internet for long-distance transfers.

Speed Comparison

Scenario	Standard Upload	Accelerated Upload	Improvement
Tokyo to us-east-1	~200ms latency	~50ms to edge	60-80% faster
Sydney to eu-west-1	~300ms latency	~30ms to edge	70-90% faster
Same region	~5ms	~10ms to edge	Slower (not recommended)

Important Constraints

• Bucket name must be DNS-compliant — No periods in the bucket name.
• Must be enabled per bucket — Use aws s3api put-bucket-accelerate-configuration.
• Additional cost — Transfer Acceleration has per-GB charges on top of standard S3 pricing.
• Not always faster — For same-region or nearby transfers, standard endpoints may be faster.
• Supported operations — PUT, GET, POST, HEAD, and multipart uploads.

When to Use

• Uploading large files (videos, backups) from clients far from the bucket's region.
• Applications with globally distributed users uploading data.
• When you cannot easily change the bucket's region to be closer to users.