# Ingest API

Use the Ingest API to [fetch assets from URLs](../sources#fetch-a-file-from-a-url) or to add [upload
functionality](../sources#upload-files-directly) to your applications. Source assets are stored by Shotstack until you
delete them. Stored assets can be used directly in your edits. The Ingest API is designed to be used with video, image,
audio and font files.

## Limitations

Files uploaded and ingested via the Ingest API are stored in S3 buckets in the AWS Sydney region. The primary use case
for these files is to provide a simple upload service to upload media files to be used in your Edits. We do not recommend
serving these files directly to your users or in your own application.

If you have the to serve files directly to users we recommend using a CDN or a third party storage or hosting
service.