Amazon CloudFront is a content delivery network (CDN) service provided by Amazon Web Services (AWS). It accelerates the delivery of static and dynamic web content, such as images, videos, and APIs, by distributing it globally through a network of edge locations.
Key Features
- Global Content Delivery: CloudFront uses a network of edge locations around the world to deliver content with low latency and high transfer speeds.
- Content Caching: CloudFront caches content at edge locations, reducing the load on the origin server and improving response times for subsequent requests.
- Custom SSL Certificates: You can use your own SSL/TLS certificates with CloudFront to enable secure connections between viewers and your content.
- Security: CloudFront provides various security features, including DDoS protection, access control using AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM), and integration with AWS WAF (Web Application Firewall).
- Integration with Other AWS Services: CloudFront seamlessly integrates with other AWS services, such as Amazon S3, EC2, Elastic Load Balancing, and Lambda@Edge.
Use Cases
Amazon CloudFront is commonly used for the following purposes:
- Content Delivery: Accelerate the delivery of static and dynamic content, including images, videos, and APIs, to users globally.
- Website Acceleration: Improve the performance of your website by caching content at edge locations and reducing latency for end-users.
- Live and On-Demand Video Streaming: Use CloudFront to deliver live and on-demand video streams with low latency and high-quality streaming.
- Global Application Distribution: Distribute software updates and other files globally to end-users or devices.
Amazon CloudFront is a key component in building highly scalable, secure, and performant web applications by providing a global content delivery solution.