Download an Archive from a Vault in Amazon Glacier by Using the AWS SDK for .NET - Amazon Glacier

This page is only for existing customers of the Amazon Glacier service using Vaults and the original REST API from 2012.

If you're looking for archival storage solutions, we recommend using the Amazon Glacier storage classes in Amazon S3, S3 Glacier Instant Retrieval, S3 Glacier Flexible Retrieval, and S3 Glacier Deep Archive. To learn more about these storage options, see Amazon Glacier storage classes.

Amazon Glacier (original standalone vault-based service) will no longer accept new customers starting December 15, 2025, with no impact to existing customers. Amazon Glacier is a standalone service with its own APIs that stores data in vaults and is distinct from Amazon S3 and the Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes. Your existing data will remain secure and accessible in Amazon Glacier indefinitely. No migration is required. For low-cost, long-term archival storage, AWS recommends the Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes, which deliver a superior customer experience with S3 bucket-based APIs, full AWS Region availability, lower costs, and AWS service integration. If you want enhanced capabilities, consider migrating to Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes by using our AWS Solutions Guidance for transferring data from Amazon Glacier vaults to Amazon S3 Glacier storage classes.

Download an Archive from a Vault in Amazon Glacier by Using the AWS SDK for .NET

The following C# code example uses the high-level API of the AWS SDK for .NET to download the archive that you uploaded previously in Upload an Archive to a Vault in Amazon Glacier by Using the AWS SDK for .NET. In the code example, note the following:

  • The example creates an instance of the ArchiveTransferManager class for the specified Amazon Glacier Region endpoint.

  • The code example uses the US West (Oregon) Region (us-west-2) to match the location where you created the vault previously in Step 2: Create a Vault in Amazon Glacier.

  • The example uses the Download API operation of the ArchiveTransferManager class to download your archive. The example creates an Amazon Simple Notification Service (Amazon SNS) topic, and an Amazon Simple Queue Service (Amazon SQS) queue that is subscribed to that topic. If you created an AWS Identity and Access Management (IAM) admin user as instructed in Step 1: Before You Begin with Amazon Glacier, your user has the necessary IAM permissions for the creation and use of the Amazon SNS topic and Amazon SQS queue.

  • The example then initiates the archive retrieval job and polls the queue for the archive to be available. When the archive is available, the download begins. For information about retrieval times, see Archive Retrieval Options.

For step-by-step instructions on how to run this example, see Running Code Examples. You must update the code as shown with the archive ID of the file that you uploaded in Step 3: Upload an Archive to a Vault in Amazon Glacier.

Example — Download an Archive by Using the High-Level API of the AWS SDK for .NET
using System; using Amazon.Glacier; using Amazon.Glacier.Transfer; using Amazon.Runtime; namespace glacier.amazon.com.rproxy.govskope.ca.docsamples { class ArchiveDownloadHighLevel_GettingStarted { static string vaultName = "examplevault"; static string archiveId = "*** Provide archive ID ***"; static string downloadFilePath = "*** Provide the file name and path to where to store the download ***"; public static void Main(string[] args) { try { var manager = new ArchiveTransferManager(Amazon.RegionEndpoint.USWest2); var options = new DownloadOptions(); options.StreamTransferProgress += ArchiveDownloadHighLevel_GettingStarted.progress; // Download an archive. Console.WriteLine("Intiating the archive retrieval job and then polling SQS queue for the archive to be available."); Console.WriteLine("Once the archive is available, downloading will begin."); manager.Download(vaultName, archiveId, downloadFilePath, options); Console.WriteLine("To continue, press Enter"); Console.ReadKey(); } catch (AmazonGlacierException e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } catch (AmazonServiceException e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } catch (Exception e) { Console.WriteLine(e.Message); } Console.WriteLine("To continue, press Enter"); Console.ReadKey(); } static int currentPercentage = -1; static void progress(object sender, StreamTransferProgressArgs args) { if (args.PercentDone != currentPercentage) { currentPercentage = args.PercentDone; Console.WriteLine("Downloaded {0}%", args.PercentDone); } } } }