Blob Store

A blob store is a specialized storage system for unstructured data—photos, videos, audio files, documents, backups, and binary executables. Unlike databases that store structured records, blob stores handle large, opaque binary objects that can range from kilobytes to gigabytes. Every major tech company relies on blob storage: Netflix uses S3, YouTube uses Google Cloud Storage, and Facebook built Tectonic.

In system design interviews, blob storage appears in nearly every media-heavy system: video platforms, file sharing services, backup systems, and CDN backends. Understanding how blob stores achieve high durability, availability, and throughput for massive files is essential for designing scalable systems.