# Retrieving object versions from a versioning-enabled bucket
<a name="RetrievingObjectVersions"></a>

Versioning in Amazon S3 is a way of keeping multiple variants of an object in the same bucket. A simple `GET` request retrieves the current version of an object. The following figure shows how `GET` returns the current version of the object, `photo.gif`.

![Illustration that shows how GET returns the current version of the object.](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/images/versioning_GET_NoVersionID.png)


To retrieve a specific version, you have to specify its version ID. The following figure shows that a `GET versionId` request retrieves the specified version of the object (not necessarily the current one).

![Illustration that shows how a GET versionId request retrieves the specified version of the object.](http://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/images/versioning_GET_Versioned.png)


You can retrieve object versions in Amazon S3 using the console, AWS SDKs, or REST API.

**Note**  
 To access object versions older than 300 versions, you must use the AWS CLI or the object's URL.

## Using the S3 console
<a name="retrieving-object-versions"></a>

1. Sign in to the AWS Management Console and open the Amazon S3 console at [https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/](https://console.aws.amazon.com/s3/).

1. In the **Buckets** list, choose the name of the bucket that contains the object.

1. In the **Objects** list, choose the name of the object.

1. Choose **Versions**.

   Amazon S3 shows all the versions for the object.

1. Select the check box next to the **Version ID** for the versions that you want to retrieve.

1. Choose **Actions**, choose **Download**, and save the object.

You also can view, download, and delete object versions in the object overview panel. For more information, see [Viewing object properties in the Amazon S3 console](view-object-properties.md).

**Important**  
You can undelete an object only if it was deleted as the latest (current) version. You can't undelete a previous version of an object that was deleted. For more information, see [Retaining multiple versions of objects with S3 Versioning](Versioning.md).

## Using the AWS SDKs
<a name="retrieve-obj-version-sdks"></a>

The examples for uploading objects in nonversioned and versioning-enabled buckets are the same. However, for versioning-enabled buckets, Amazon S3 assigns a version number. Otherwise, the version number is null.

For examples of downloading objects using AWS SDKs for Java, .NET, and PHP, see [Downloading objects](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/AmazonS3/latest/userguide/download-objects.html).

For examples of listing the version of objects using AWS SDKs for .NET and Rust, see [List the version of objects in an Amazon S3 bucket](https://docs.aws.amazon.com/code-library/latest/ug/s3_example_s3_ListObjectVersions_section.html).

## Using the REST API
<a name="retrieve-obj-version-rest"></a>

**To retrieve a specific object version**

1. Set `versionId` to the ID of the version of the object that you want to retrieve.

1. Send a `GET Object versionId` request.

**Example — Retrieving a versioned object**  
The following request retrieves version `L4kqtJlcpXroDTDmpUMLUo` of `my-image.jpg`.  

```
1. GET /my-image.jpg?versionId=L4kqtJlcpXroDTDmpUMLUo HTTP/1.1
2. Host: bucket.s3.amazonaws.com
3. Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:32:00 GMT
4. Authorization: AWS AKIAIOSFODNN7EXAMPLE:0RQf4/cRonhpaBX5sCYVf1bNRuU=
```

You can retrieve just the metadata of an object (not the content). For information, see [Retrieving the metadata of an object version](RetMetaOfObjVersion.md).

For information about restoring a previous object version, see [Restoring previous versions](RestoringPreviousVersions.md).