# What is a bucket?

A bucket is a named container for files in cloud storage. It's like a top-level folder with its own address, permissions and settings. You create one in your provider's dashboard, and your files sit inside it. Names follow rules, and on many providers a name is shared by everyone.

## How files are stored

Files in a bucket are called objects, and each has a key, which is its full path, like `wp-content/uploads/2026/photo.jpg`. There aren't real folders: slashes in the key only look like them in the dashboard.

## What you choose when you create one

- **The name:** usually 3 to 63 lowercase letters, digits and hyphens. See [bucket name rules](/docs/troubleshooting/bucket-name-rules).
- **The region:** where the files live. It usually can't be changed later.
- **Public access:** whether visitors can read files. It's normally off to begin with.

## One bucket or many?

One bucket per site is simplest. A key limited to it can't reach anything else, so a leak on one site doesn't touch another.

## How Offloft handles this

Offloft works with one bucket that you own, and its files stay yours. The [setup guides](/docs/connect-a-provider) show how to create one for each provider.

Updated 2026-11-06.

Source: https://www.offloft.com/docs/glossary/bucket