Plan your deployment - Dynamic Image Transformation for Amazon CloudFront

Plan your deployment

This section describes the cost, security, quotas, and other considerations before deploying the solution.

Choosing your deployment architecture

The Dynamic Image Transformation solution offers two deployment architectures, each optimized for different use cases, performance requirements, and cost considerations.

Lambda Architecture

This cost-optimized serverless architecture is ideal for most image transformation workloads with moderate performance requirements.

Key characteristics:

  • Image size limit: Up to 6 MB per image

  • Pricing model: Pay-per-request with no idle costs

  • Scaling: Automatic scaling with built-in high availability

  • Maintenance: Fully managed serverless infrastructure

  • Feature set: Core image transformation capabilities

Best suited for:

  • Small to medium-sized images (under 6 MB)

  • Cost-sensitive deployments

  • Variable or unpredictable traffic patterns

  • Simple transformation requirements

  • S3 only origins

ECS Architecture

This high-performance container-based architecture supports demanding workloads and provides access to all v8.0.0 features.

Key characteristics:

  • Image size limit: Up to 100 MB per image

  • Pricing model: Fixed infrastructure costs with usage-based scaling

  • Scaling: Configurable auto-scaling with t-shirt sizing options

  • Feature set: Complete v8.0.0 feature set including policies and non-S3 origins

  • Management: Administrative web interface included

Best suited for:

  • Large images (6 MB to 100 MB)

  • Enterprise deployments requiring advanced features

  • Non-S3 origin requirements

  • Consistent high-volume traffic

  • Complex transformation workflows

  • Migration from other CDN providers

Advanced capabilities:

  • Transformation policies with conditional logic

  • Multi-origin support (S3 and external)

  • Administrative interface for configuration management

  • In-memory caching for optimal performance

Decision matrix and when to choose each

Requirement Lambda Architecture ECS Architecture

Image size

≤ 6 MB

≤ 100 MB

Cost optimization

Yes - Lowest cost

Higher cost

Transformation policies

No

Yes

Non-S3 origins

No

Yes

Administrative UI

No

Yes

Auto-scaling

Yes - Built-in

Yes - Configurable

Supported AWS Regions

This solution uses AWS services that aren’t available in all AWS Regions. You must launch this solution in an AWS Region where these services are available. For the current availability of AWS services by Region, see the AWS Regional Services List.

This solution is available in the following AWS Regions:

Region name

US East (Ohio)

Canada (Central)

US East (N. Virginia)

China (Beijing)

US West (Northern California)

China (Ningxia)

US West (Oregon)

Europe (Frankfurt)

Africa (Cape Town)

Europe (Ireland)

Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)

Europe (London)

Asia Pacific (Mumbai)

Europe (Milan)

Asia Pacific (Seoul)

Europe (Paris)

Asia Pacific (Singapore)

Europe (Stockholm)

Asia Pacific (Sydney)

Middle East (Bahrain)

Asia Pacific (Tokyo)

South America (São Paulo)

Opt-in Regions

An opt-in Region is an AWS Region that’s deactivated by default. You can activate opt-in Regions can be activated in the AWS console. For additional information about opt-in Regions and how to activate them, refer to Managing AWS Regions in the AWS General Reference guide.

This solution supports four opt-in Regions:

  • Asia Pacific (Hong Kong)

  • Middle East (Bahrain)

  • Africa (Cape Town)

  • Europe (Milan)

    When launched in an opt-in Region, this solution creates an S3 logging bucket for CloudFront in the US East (N. Virginia) Region. This is because CloudFront doesn’t deliver access logs to buckets in the supported opt-in Regions. For more information about S3 buckets, refer to Choosing an Amazon S3 bucket for your standard logs in the Amazon CloudFront Developer Guide.

To deploy in an opt-in Region, the S3 bucket(s) that you provide for the Source Buckets parameter must be in the same Region where you launch the CloudFormation template.