An engineer needs to upload a single 6 GB video file to S3 using the AWS CLI. They attempt a single `PUT` operation via `aws s3api put-object`. What happens?
- The upload succeeds because S3 accepts objects up to 5 TB in a single PUT
- The upload fails because a single PUT operation is limited to 5 GB; multipart upload is required
- The upload succeeds but S3 automatically splits it into parts behind the scenes
- The upload fails because the AWS CLI never supports single PUT operations
Correct answer: B. The upload fails because a single PUT operation is limited to 5 GB; multipart upload is required
AWS documentation on uploading objects states that with a single PUT operation, using the AWS CLI, SDKs, or REST API, you can upload a single object only up to 5 GB in size; anything larger must use the multipart upload API instead, which supports objects up to far larger sizes. The 6 GB file in this scenario exceeds that 5 GB single-PUT ceiling, so the request fails and the engineer must switch to multipart upload, making the second option correct. The first option incorrectly applies a large aggregate object-size limit to a single PUT request, when that ceiling only applies to the overall size an object can reach via multipart upload, not to one PUT call. S3 does not silently convert an oversized single PUT into multipart parts on the caller's behalf; the caller must explicitly initiate a multipart upload, so the third option describes automation that does not exist. The AWS CLI does support single PUT uploads for objects at or below 5 GB, so the fourth option is factually wrong.
Source: AWS S3 documentation: Uploading objects — single PUT operation limited to 5 GB, multipart required above that size