---
id: dvc-objects
version: "5.2.0"
license: Apache-2.0
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# dvc-objects — dvc objects - filesystem and object-db level abstractions to use in dvc and dvc-data

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 2.0M/mo

## What it is and what it does

DVC objects is a low-level abstraction layer that unifies access to multiple storage backends through a common interface built on fsspec. It handles the filesystem and object-database operations needed by DVC and dvc-data, supporting local storage, cloud providers (S3, Google Cloud Storage, Google Drive), and remote systems (SSH/SFTP). The package is serverless and requires only that the underlying storage support basic operations: uploading, downloading, listing, copying, and atomic renames.

This is a foundational library rather than a user-facing tool—it's designed to be used by other DVC ecosystem packages rather than directly by end users. It abstracts away the complexity of working with different storage systems, allowing higher-level tools to treat all backends uniformly.

Use it for:

- Building data pipeline tools that need to work across multiple storage backends without backend-specific code
- Implementing object-database systems that require consistent operations across local and cloud storage
- Extending DVC or dvc-data with custom storage support by leveraging the fsspec abstraction layer

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides filesystem and object-database abstractions for working with multiple storage backends (local, S3, GS, GDrive, SSH/SFTP, etc.) via fsspec, used internally by DVC and dvc-data.

Yes, if you are building tools in the DVC ecosystem or need a lightweight, actively maintained abstraction for multi-backend storage operations. The low install friction, permissive license, and active maintenance make it a safe dependency. However, this is primarily a library for other packages rather than a standalone tool—install it as a dependency, not as a direct solution to a storage problem.

## Install

pip install dvc-objects
uv add dvc-objects
poetry add dvc-objects

## Installing dvc-objects

Before you install: Low install friction with only two runtime dependencies (fsspec and funcy). Actively maintained with recent commits; last release was 235 days ago and the repository remains active.

License in practice: Apache 2.0 permissive license allows free use, modification, and distribution with minimal restrictions, making it suitable for both open-source and commercial projects.

Quickstart:

pip install dvc-objects

from dvc_objects.fs import get_cloud_fs

fs = get_cloud_fs(None, **{"url": "s3://bucket/path"})
fs.upload("local_file", "remote_path")

Requires Python 3.9 or later; the underlying storage backend (S3, GCS, etc.) must support upload, download, list, copy, and quasiatomic rename operations.

Verify before relying:

- Whether the package provides a stable public API or is primarily intended for internal DVC ecosystem use
- Performance characteristics and scalability limits for large-scale object operations
- Specific storage backend compatibility matrix and any known limitations

## Package facts

- License: Apache-2.0 (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 2.0M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

object storage abstraction, multi-backend filesystem, fsspec storage wrapper, dvc storage layer, cloud storage abstraction, storage-abstraction, fsspec-based, dvc-ecosystem

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