Amazon CloudFront — AWS CDN
AWS's content delivery network (CDN): it brings your website, APIs and video closer to users from hundreds of points of presence for a fast, secure experience.
What is Amazon CloudFront?
Amazon CloudFront is AWS's CDN (Content Delivery Network): a global network of edge servers that cache copies of your content close to users. When someone in Lima opens your site, the content is served from a nearby point of presence instead of traveling all the way to the origin server, reducing latency and improving conversion.
Beyond speed, CloudFront adds a security layer: it includes DDoS protection, pairs with AWS WAF to filter malicious traffic and handles HTTPS certificates. It also offloads work from the origin, lowering cost and increasing resilience against traffic spikes. Together with Amazon S3, it is the foundation of the fastest, hardest-to-take-down static websites.
How does it work in practice? The first time a user requests a resource, CloudFront fetches it from the origin —for example, an Amazon S3 bucket or a load balancer— and stores a copy at the nearest point of presence. The next requests are served from that cache, without going back to the origin. You control how long each copy lives with cache policies, and you can invalidate content when you publish changes so users always see the right version.
What Amazon CloudFront is used for
Speed up sites and apps
Serve pages, images and static assets with low latency from the edge, improving Core Web Vitals and SEO.
Video streaming
Deliver media at scale without overloading the origin.
Low-latency APIs
Cache responses and bring APIs closer to geographically distributed users.
Edge security
Mitigate DDoS and filter traffic with WAF before it reaches your infrastructure.
Static sites on S3
Serve static websites stored in Amazon S3 behind CloudFront: a fast, low-cost architecture with no servers to maintain.
HTTPS termination and certificates
Handle HTTPS and certificates at the edge to serve all traffic encrypted with no extra load on the origin.
Amazon CloudFront with an AWS partner
At Caleidos we implement CloudFront as part of well-designed web and application architectures: optimal caching, HTTPS, AWS WAF integration for cloud security and monitoring, all within your deployment pipeline. Combined with Amazon S3 and, when the business needs it, a multi-region architecture, it delivers fast, resilient websites.
Explore Cloud Foundations →Frequently asked questions
- What exactly is a CDN?
- A globally distributed network of servers that cache copies of your content close to users. It shortens the distance data travels, speeding up loads and offloading work from the origin server.
- Does CloudFront improve SEO?
- Indirectly yes: by reducing latency and improving Core Web Vitals (load speed), it helps ranking and user experience, factors Google takes into account.
- Is CloudFront only for websites?
- No: it speeds up and protects sites, applications, APIs and video streaming. Any content delivered over HTTP/HTTPS can benefit.
- Does CloudFront protect against DDoS attacks?
- Yes. CloudFront includes DDoS protection at the edge and integrates with AWS WAF to filter malicious traffic before it reaches your infrastructure. By absorbing and filtering traffic across hundreds of points of presence, it reduces the attack surface on the origin.
- How is CloudFront different from a traditional CDN?
- Beyond caching content close to users like any CDN, CloudFront integrates natively with the rest of AWS —Amazon S3, load balancers, AWS WAF and certificates— and lets you run logic at the edge. That makes it simpler to operate a fast, secure architecture without coordinating separate providers.
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