File Downloading From Azure Blob Storage Using AzCopy

Azure Blob Storage in Azure is a scalable, cost-effective solution for storing large amounts of unstructured data such as documents, images, and backups. One of the most efficient tools for interacting with Azure Blob Storage is AzCopy, a command-line utility that allows you to move and copy data to, from, and within Azure Storage accounts.

In this article, we will walk through the process of downloading files from Azure Blob Storage using AzCopy, including installation, authentication, and execution of download commands.

In my previous article File Uploading To Azure Blob Storage using AzCopy, I have explained for uploading files in different ways to Azure blob btorage using AzCopy. If you want to know, how to upload file then click on the link.

File Downloading From Azure Blob Storage Using AzCopy

Getting Started

AzCopy is a free command-line tool provided by Microsoft for high-performance data transfer. It supports data operations between your local machine and Azure Blob, File, and Table storage.

AzCopy Download

To use the AzCopy, you need to first download it, if you are Windows user then download AzCopy from the official Microsoft page. clic here to visit Microsoft official page.

Unzip the folder and add the path to your system’s environment variables. If you do not know how to add the AzCopy executable path to system environment in Windows, check the steps are given in the below of this article.

Use wget or curl to download AzCopy, unzip and move it to a directory in your $PATH.

 wget https://aka.ms/downloadazcopy-v10-linux  

Authenticate with Azure

There are two ways to authenticate AzCopy. The simplest for most users is Azure AD authentication and alternatively, you can use a Shared Access Signature (SAS) token appended to your storage URL if you prefer a script-based, non-interactive approach.

Authenticate with Azure AD (Interactive Login)

Use the azcopy login command to autheticate the AzCopy with Azure using Azure AD. This opens a browser window where you can log in to your Azure account.

 azcopy login  

Download a Folder

To download a folder (virtual directory) from Azure Blob Storage using AzCopy copy command, you can use the --recursive=true option.

Syntax

 azcopy copy 'https://<storage-account-name>.<blob or dfs>.core.windows.net/<container-name>/<directory-path>' '<local-directory-path>' --recursive  

Example

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myBlobDirectory' 'C:\myDirectory' --recursive  

This example creates a directory named C:\myDirectory\myBlobDirectory, which contains all the downloaded blobs.

Download Folder Contents

Using the wildcard symbol (*), you can download the contents of a directory without copying the directory itself.

Syntax

 azcopy copy 'https://<storage-account-name>.blob.core.windows.net/<container-name>/*' '<local-directory-path>/'  

Example

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myBlobDirectory/*' 'C:\myDirectory'  

Use the --recursive flag to download files from all subdirectories like this.

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myBlobDirectory/*' 'C:\myDirectory' --recursive  

Download Blobs or Files

You can download blobs or files using complete file names, partial names with wildcard characters (*), or by specifying dates and times.

Download A File

Syntax

 azcopy copy "https://<storage-account-name>.blob.core.windows.net/<container-name>/<blob-name>?<SAS-token>" "<local-file-path>" --recursive=false  

Example

 azcopy copy "https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/myfile.txt?<SAS-token>" "C:\Downloads\myfile.txt"  

Download Multiple File Or Folder

To download multiple files or folders, use the azcopy copy command with the --include-path option, separating individual blob names with a semicolon (;).

Syntax

 azcopy copy 'https://<storage-account-name>.<blob or dfs>.core.windows.net/<container-or-directory-name>' '<local-directory-path>' --include-path <semicolon-separated-file-list  

Example

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/FileDirectory' 'C:\myDirectory' --include-path 'photos;documents\myFile.txt' --recursive  

In this example, AzCopy transfers the folder and the file. Include the --recursive option to transfer all blobs in the photo folder

Download Files Using Wildcard

Multiple files that match the same pattern can be downloaded by using the azcopy copy command with the --include-pattern option. Specify partial names that include wildcard characters and separate them using a semicolon (;).

Syntax

 azcopy copy 'https://<storage-account-name>.<blob or dfs>.core.windows.net/<container-or-directory-name>' '<local-directory-path>' --include-pattern <semicolon-separated-file-list-with-wildcard-characters>  

Example

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/FileDirectory' 'C:\myDirectory' --include-pattern 'myFile*.txt;*.pdf*'  

Download blobs that were modified before or after a date and time

Use the azcopy copy command with the --include-before or --include-after option. Specify a date and time in ISO-8601 format (for example, 2020-08-19T15:04:00Z).

The following examples download files that were modified on or after the specified date.

Syntax

 zcopy copy 'https://<storage-account-name>.<blob or dfs>.core.windows.net/<container-or-directory-name>/*' '<local-directory-path>' --include-after <Date-Time-in-ISO-8601-format>  

Example

 azcopy copy 'https://kailashsblogs.blob.core.windows.net/mycontainer/FileDirectory/*' 'C:\myDirectory' --include-after '2025-05-12T15:04:00Z'  

Summary

AzCopy is a powerful utility for managing data transfers to and from Azure Blob Storage. Whether you're backing up data, syncing environments, or automating tasks, AzCopy simplifies the process of securely and efficiently downloading files from Azure. I hope you found this information helpful.

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