Using AWS S3 with PHP: Installation, Client Setup, Bucket Operations, Object Management, Presigned URLs, Compression, and CORS Configuration

AWS Simple Storage Service (S3) is a highly scalable object storage service that lets you store and retrieve any amount of data from anywhere on the internet. Objects are stored in containers called buckets, and the SDK provides methods to create, read, update, and delete them.

Install the AWS SDK for PHP

Ensure your environment has PHP 5.3.3+ with the cURL extension and Composer installed. Use Composer to add the SDK:

<code>composer require aws/aws-sdk-php</code>

Include the Composer autoloader in your project:

<code>require 'vendor/autoload.php';</code>

Set Up the S3 Client

Initialize the client with your AWS credentials:

<code>// Use your AWS credentials to set up the S3 client
$client = new S3Client([
    'version' => 'latest',
    'region'  => 'us-east-1',
    'credentials' => [
        'key'    => AWS_KEY,
        'secret' => AWS_SECRET,
    ],
]);</code>

Bucket Operations

Create a bucket:

<code>$client->createBucket(['Bucket' => $bucketName]);</code>

Upload an object to a bucket:

<code>$client->putObject([
    'Bucket' => $bucketName,
    'Key'    => $objectKey,
    'Body'   => $objectContent,
]);</code>

List all buckets associated with the client:

<code>$buckets = $client->listBuckets();
// $buckets is an array of bucket names and creation dates</code>

Object Pagination, Filtering, and Selection

Use listObjectsV2() to paginate and filter objects. Required Bucket parameter specifies the target bucket.

<code>$listObjectsParams = [
    'Bucket' => 'YOUR_BUCKET_NAME',
];
$objects = $client->listObjectsV2($listObjectsParams);
</code>

Optional parameters such as Delimiter , Prefix , StartAfter , and MaxKeys can refine the results:

<code>$listObjectsParams['Delimiter'] = '/';
$listObjectsParams['Prefix']    = '/GENRE_FOLDER/2026';
$listObjectsParams['StartAfter']= '/GENRE_FOLDER/2026/GENRE_SONG_2.mp3';
$listObjectsParams['MaxKeys']   = '20';
</code>

The response includes Contents , CommonPrefixes , and pagination flags.

Generate Presigned URLs

Presigned URLs grant time‑limited access to objects. Example function to create a download URL for a single object:

<code>function getObjectDownloadURL($client, $bucketName, $objectKey, $objectName)
{
    $cmd = $client->getCommand('GetObject', [
        'Bucket' => $bucketName,
        'Key'    => $objectKey,
        'ResponseContentDisposition' => urlencode("attachment; filename=$objectName"),
    ]);
    $request = $client->createPresignedRequest($cmd, '+7 days');
    return (string) $request->getUri();
}
</code>

A helper can generate URLs for multiple objects with optional text and max‑key filters.

Compress S3 Objects with ZipArchive

Download presigned URLs and add them to a zip file using PHP's ZipArchive class:

<code>function downloadAndCompressUrls($urls, $zipFileName)
{
    $zip = new ZipArchive();
    if ($zip->open($zipFileName, ZipArchive::CREATE | ZipArchive::OVERWRITE) !== true) {
        return null;
    }
    foreach ($urls as $url) {
        $fileContent = @file_get_contents($url[0]);
        if ($fileContent !== false) {
            $zip->addFromString(basename($url[1]), $fileContent);
        }
    }
    $zip->close();
    return $zipFileName;
}
</code>

Configure CORS for an S3 Bucket

CORS allows web applications from other domains to access bucket resources. Example CORS configuration JSON:

<code>{
    "CORSRules": [
        {
            "AllowedHeaders": ["*"],
            "AllowedMethods": ["GET"],
            "AllowedOrigins": ["https://localhost:8000"]
        }
    ]
}
</code>

Apply this configuration to control which origins can perform which HTTP methods on your S3 resources.