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Amazon S3 Enables Changing Server-Side Encryption Type Without Data Movement

A new API in Amazon S3 facilitates atomic updates to the encryption method of stored objects, preserving object properties and regulatory compliance.

AI-ASSISTED REPORTING · RETROSPECTIVE ARCHIVE

Retrospective edition: 2026-01-29. Source published: 2026-01-29. Added to this archive: 2026-11-03. This briefing was prepared later from the linked announcement; it was not published on this website on the historical edition date.

With the UpdateObjectEncryption API, users can switch encrypted objects' server-side encryption between SSE-S3 and SSE-KMS or change customer-managed KMS keys. This feature supports all object sizes and storage classes, enabling compliance with encryption policies and key rotation without copying data.

The capability is compatible with S3 Batch Operations for large-scale transformations and maintains existing lifecycle configurations. This advancement addresses customer needs around data security and audit readiness, though independent security assessments are not discussed in the source.

Source & further reading

Change the server-side encryption type of Amazon S3 objects ↗

Source published 2026-01-29. This report was prepared with AI assistance from the linked primary-source material. Claims and limitations should be checked against the original announcement or research.