Suite Studios cuts out proprietary file formats with S3-native streaming

Using Suite Studios software, entertainment and media businesses can stream their large files from a cloud source to creative staff in real-time as standard S3 objects, without needing proprietary file formats.

That's the pitch of Boulder, Colorado based Suite Studios,  founded in April 2021 by CEO Craig Hering, CTO Mike Hering, and Chief Product Officer Jay Maxwell. It developed software to stream byte-range parts of large files to media company workers so they could work on them in real time without having to wait for the whole file to be downloaded from a central (cloud) source. The software provides local disk-like performance. Suite raised $10 million A-round funding last year. Initially, client staff needed Suite Studios’ client file format to provide access to the files but Suite has now enabled S3 object access to the streamed data, eliminating the need for proprietary file formats.

Craig Hering said: “With this latest release, teams can now seamlessly connect Suite directly to their S3 compatible storage – unlocking Suite’s performance, security, and global connectivity with a single switch.”

The company says customer staff work directly on existing data in customer-owned, S3-compatible storage with no migration, duplication, syncing, or re-ingestion needed.

Suite’s offering differs from the cloud file services provided by CTERA, Egnyte, Nasuni, and Panzura by downloading parts of files rather than entire files, which the company claims makes client data access faster. Suite says traditional file sync systems mirror entire files locally , while its technology enables staff members to “access and work instantly on massive project files by only streaming the data they need, when they need it – without full downloads.”

Its approach “reduces startup times, local storage demands, and collaboration friction across large, complex productions,” and each team member works on the latest version of a file.

Suite’s software is similar to LucidLink’s Filespaces functionality, which provides one shared cloud where everyone works in real time anywhere: in the office, in the field or at home, on desktops, notebooks, cloud virtual machines or even smartphones. There are no full file downloads, syncing, or duplicates needed.

Suite says proprietary Lucid cache front-end software is still needed by LucidLink’s customers. The latest version is called TeamCache. 

However, since Suite supports files as native objects, tools don’t have to go through Suite to access data. Suite doesn’t store a separate copy of data; it uses the underlying object storage bucket as the source of truth. Existing tools, systems, and custom workflows can read and write directly to the backing object storage bucket using standard APIs. If a tool can talk to S3, it works with Suite straight away.

Suite’s S3 Native File Streaming integrates with existing workflows utilizing Media Asset Management (MAM), Digital Asset Management (DAM), rendering, and archive systems – without gateways, proxies, or proprietary translation layers. The platform has planned support for AWS, Backblaze, Cloudflare, IBM, Azure, GCP, Wasabi, and on-premises object storage deployments.

The S3 Native File Streaming product is available today in private beta - with a waitlist on its site - and is expected to be generally available in April 2026. Suite will offer volume-based pricing to support petabyte scale deployments.

For information about the beta version, click here.