Azure Blob Storage SDK for Python

Client library for Azure Blob Storage — object storage for unstructured data.

Installation

pip install azure-storage-blob azure-identity

Environment Variables

AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_NAME=<your-storage-account>
# Or use full URL
AZURE_STORAGE_ACCOUNT_URL=https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net

Authentication

from azure.identity import DefaultAzureCredential
from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient

credential = DefaultAzureCredential()
account_url = "https://<account>.blob.core.windows.net"

blob_service_client = BlobServiceClient(account_url, credential=credential)

Client Hierarchy

Core Workflow

Create Container

container_client = blob_service_client.get_container_client("mycontainer")
container_client.create_container()

Upload Blob

# From file path
blob_client = blob_service_client.get_blob_client(
    container="mycontainer",
    blob="sample.txt"
)

with open("./local-file.txt", "rb") as data:
    blob_client.upload_blob(data, overwrite=True)

# From bytes/string
blob_client.upload_blob(b"Hello, World!", overwrite=True)

# From stream
import io
stream = io.BytesIO(b"Stream content")
blob_client.upload_blob(stream, overwrite=True)

Download Blob

blob_client = blob_service_client.get_blob_client(
    container="mycontainer",
    blob="sample.txt"
)

# To file
with open("./downloaded.txt", "wb") as file:
    download_stream = blob_client.download_blob()
    file.write(download_stream.readall())

# To memory
download_stream = blob_client.download_blob()
content = download_stream.readall()  # bytes

# Read into existing buffer
stream = io.BytesIO()
num_bytes = blob_client.download_blob().readinto(stream)

List Blobs

container_client = blob_service_client.get_container_client("mycontainer")

# List all blobs
for blob in container_client.list_blobs():
    print(f"{blob.name} - {blob.size} bytes")

# List with prefix (folder-like)
for blob in container_client.list_blobs(name_starts_with="logs/"):
    print(blob.name)

# Walk blob hierarchy (virtual directories)
for item in container_client.walk_blobs(delimiter="/"):
    if item.get("prefix"):
        print(f"Directory: {item['prefix']}")
    else:
        print(f"Blob: {item.name}")

Delete Blob

blob_client.delete_blob()

# Delete with snapshots
blob_client.delete_blob(delete_snapshots="include")

Performance Tuning