A “blob” (short for Binary Large Object) is a mass of data stored in binary form.

Definition:

A blob is a chunk of binary data that doesn’t necessarily conform to any specific file format.

It can represent various types of unstructured data, such as images, videos, audio files, documents, or any other binary content.

Purpose of Blob Storage:

Azure Blob Storage is Microsoft’s object storage solution for the cloud.

It is optimized for storing massive amounts of unstructured data.

Use cases include serving files directly to browsers, streaming media, writing log files, backup and restore, disaster recovery, and archiving.

Access and Usage:

Users or client applications can access objects in Blob Storage via HTTP/HTTPS from anywhere in the world.

Objects are accessible through the Azure Storage REST API, Azure PowerShell, Azure CLI, or Azure Storage client libraries.

Secure connections can be established using SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) or by mounting Blob Storage containers using the Network File System (NFS) 3.0 protocol.

Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2:

Blob Storage supports Azure Data Lake Storage Gen2, which combines the advantages of Blob Storage with a hierarchical file system.

Features include low-cost tiered storage, high availability, strong consistency, and disaster recovery capabilities.

In summary, Azure Blob Storage provides a scalable and flexible way to store unstructured data, making it suitable for a wide range of applications and scenarios.

Read more: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/storage/blobs/storage-blobs-introduction