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Cloud Storage

Cloud Storage is built for app developers who need to store and serve user-generated content, such as photos or videos.

Cloud Storage for Firebase is a powerful, simple, and cost-effective object storage service built for Google scale. The Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage add Google security to file uploads and downloads for your Firebase apps, regardless of network quality. You can use our SDKs to store images, audio, video, or other user-generated content. On the server, you can use Google Cloud Storage, to access the same files.

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Key capabilities

Robust operations Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage perform uploads and downloads regardless of network quality. Uploads and downloads are robust, meaning they restart where they stopped, saving your users time and bandwidth.
Strong security Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage integrate with Firebase Authentication to provide simple and intuitive authentication for developers. You can use our declarative security model to allow access based on filename, size, content type, and other metadata.
High scalability Cloud Storage for Firebase is built for exabyte scale when your app goes viral. Effortlessly grow from prototype to production using the same infrastructure that powers Spotify and Google Photos.

How does it work?

Developers use the Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage to upload and download files directly from clients. If the network connection is poor, the client is able to retry the operation right where it left off, saving your users time and bandwidth.

Cloud Storage stores your files in a Google Cloud Storage bucket, making them accessible through both Firebase and Google Cloud. This allows you the flexibility to upload and download files from mobile clients via the Firebase SDKs, and do server-side processing such as image filtering or video transcoding using Google Cloud Platform. Cloud Storage scales automatically, meaning that there's no need to migrate to any other provider. Learn more about all the benefits of our integration with Google Cloud Platform.

The Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage integrate seamlessly with Firebase Authentication to identify users, and we provide a declarative security language that lets you set access controls on individual files or groups of files, so you can make files as public or private as you want.

Implementation path

Integrate the Firebase SDKs for Cloud Storage. Quickly include clients via Gradle, CocoaPods, or a script include.
Create a Reference Reference the path to a file, such as "images/mountains.png", to upload, download, or delete it.
Upload or Download Upload or download to native types in memory or on disk.
Secure your Files Use Firebase Security Rules for Cloud Storage to secure your files.

Looking to store other types of data?

  • Cloud Firestore is a flexible, scalable database for mobile, web, and server development from Firebase and Google Cloud Platform.
  • The Firebase Realtime Database stores JSON application data, like game state or chat messages, and synchronizes changes instantly across all connected devices. To learn more about the differences between database options, see Choose a database: Cloud Firestore or Realtime Database.
  • Firebase Remote Config stores developer-specified key-value pairs to change the behavior and appearance of your app without requiring users to download an update.
  • Firebase Hosting hosts the HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for your website as well as other developer-provided assets like graphics, fonts, and icons.

Next steps