Assets storage in in AEM as a cloud service. I do see binary stored in CRX

[cakayastha]

As per Assets documentation in AEM as a cloud service, assets are stored in binary storage . As attached screentshot  I can see binary is stored in CRX . Is that should be a reference to binary storage rather than binary itself ?

[Avinash_Gupta_]

Hi @cakayastha 

AEM only maintains pointers to binary storage for the Assets uploaded and the binary data stored in the jcr:data property. If you hover on the jcr:data value link, it's calling a download.jsp with providing the entire path of the asset.

Thanks,

Avinash

[MonalikaKapoor]

Hi @cakayastha, 

In AEM, especially in cloud service setups, assets are typically stored in external binary storage systems like AWS S3 or Azure Blob Storage. The CRX repository maintains metadata and references to these binaries rather than storing the actual binary data directly.

The jcr:data property often holds a reference to the binary data. The download functionality, such as using download.jsp, constructs a path to access the binary stored externally and facilitates its retrieval or download.

In [1], it mentions that "You can also use the repository browser to download content. In the example below, you can press the download link to download the jcr:data associated with the selected node. This feature is available for all binary properties by navigating to the node containing the property definition."

For understanding how AEM manages content and binary data, you may find the following documentation useful: 
[1] Repository Browser: https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/experience-manager-cloud-service/content/implementing/dev...

[2] How AEM as Cloud Assets Works:  https://developer.adobe.com/app-builder/docs/resources/custom-asset-compute-worker/aem-cloud-assets/

Regards,
Monalika Kapoor