Get started with AzCopy

AzCopy is a command-line utility that you can use to copy data to, from, or between storage accounts. This article helps you download AzCopy, connect to your storage account, and then transfer data.

AzCopy V10 is the currently supported version of AzCopy. It's supported only on versions of Windows, Linux, or macOS that are officially maintained. If you need to use a previous version of AzCopy, see the Use the previous version of AzCopy section of this article.

AzCopy use cases

Use AzCopy to copy your data to, from, or between Azure storage accounts. Common use cases include:

• Copying data from an on-premises source to an Azure storage account
• Copying data from an Azure storage account to an on-premises source
• Copying data from one storage account to another storage account

AzCopy supports each use case with commands and options. For example, AzCopy has native commands for copying or synchronizing data. This support makes AzCopy a flexible tool that you can use for one-time copy activities and ongoing synchronization scenarios. You can target specific storage services such as Azure Blob Storage or Azure Files, and you can also copy between them. For example, you can copy data from Azure Blob Storage containers to Azure File shares or vice versa.

For a complete list of data transfer guides, see the Transfer data section of this article.

Get AzCopy

If you're using AzCopy on a Linux machine, you can use a package manager. For all other operating systems, download a portable binary file. For detailed information on AzCopy releases, see the AzCopy release page.

Use a package manager (Linux only)

Installing AzCopy through your Linux distribution's package manager is the most convenient and maintainable way to get this tool. Package manager installation includes automatic dependency resolution, simplified updates, and integration with your system's software management. For step-by-step guidance, see Install AzCopy on Linux by using a package manager.

Download a portable binary

An installation package is available only for Linux. For all other operating systems, you can download the AzCopy V10 executable file to any directory on your computer.

• Windows 64-bit (zip)
• Windows 32-bit (zip)
• Windows ARM64 (zip)
• Linux x86-64 (tar)
• Linux ARM64 (tar)
• macOS (zip)
• macOS ARM64 (zip)

These files are compressed as a zip file (Windows and Mac) or a tar file (Linux). To download and decompress the tar file on Linux, see the documentation for your Linux distribution.

Add AzCopy to your system path

For convenience, consider adding the directory location of the AzCopy executable to your system path. That way you can type azcopy from any directory on your system. If you don't add the AzCopy directory to your path, you need to change directories to the location of your AzCopy executable and type azcopy or .\azcopy in a command shell.

Authorize AzCopy

As an owner of your Azure Storage account, you aren't automatically assigned permissions to access data. Before you can do anything meaningful with AzCopy, you need to decide how you'll provide authorization credentials to the storage service. You can provide credentials by using Microsoft Entra ID or by using a SAS token.

Authorize with Microsoft Entra ID

By using Microsoft Entra ID, you can provide credentials once instead of having to append a SAS token to each command. Start by choosing what type of security principal you want to authorize. Use the following table as a guide.

Authorize with a SAS token

You can append a SAS token to each source or destination URL that you use in your AzCopy commands. This example command recursively copies data from a local directory to a blob container. A fictitious SAS token is appended to the end of the container URL.

azcopy copy "C:\local\path" "https://account.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer1/?sv=2018-03-28&ss=bjqt&srt=sco&sp=rwddgcup&se=2019-05-01T05:01:17Z&st=2019-04-30T21:01:17Z&spr=https&sig=MGCXiyEzbtttkr3ewJIh2AR8KrghSy1DGM9ovN734bQF4%3D" --recursive=true

To learn more about SAS tokens and how to obtain one, see Using shared access signatures (SAS).

Transfer data

After you authorize your identity or obtain a SAS token, you can start transferring data.

For example commands, see any of these articles.

You can run AzCopy commands interactively. You can also incorporate AzCopy into automated scripts for batch operations, scheduled data transfers, or continuous integration pipelines. For more information, see Use AzCopy in scripts and scheduled transfers.

Get command help

To see a list of commands, type azcopy -h and then press the ENTER key.

To learn about a specific command, include the name of the command (For example: azcopy list -h).

List of commands

The following table lists all AzCopy v10 commands. Each command links to a reference article.

Configure, optimize, and fix

See any of the following resources:

• AzCopy configuration settings

• Optimize the performance of AzCopy

• Find errors and resume jobs by using log and plan files in AzCopy

• Troubleshoot problems with AzCopy v10

Use a previous version (deprecated)

If you need to use a previous version of AzCopy, see either of the following links:

• AzCopy on Windows (v8)

• AzCopy on Linux (v7)

Next steps

If you have questions, issues, or general feedback, submit them on GitHub.