How to Handle File Uploads, Storage, and Transformations in Modern Apps

Every modern application — from SaaS platforms to mobile apps — relies on files. Users upload profile pictures, teams share documents, and products deliver video content. Yet handling this is still harder than it should be.

Let’s look at what goes into managing files in today’s apps, and how Trelae makes it simple.

The Challenges of File Management

1. Uploads – Handling large files, retries, and resumable uploads.
2. Storage – Keeping files safe, replicated, and available.
3. Delivery – Ensuring fast global access via a CDN.
4. Transformations – Resizing images, trimming videos, compressing PDFs.
5. Developer Experience – Writing glue code to stitch all of the above together.

Most teams end up using S3 + CloudFront + external APIs + custom scripts — a fragile system that eats up time and resources.

What Developers Actually Want

• One place to upload files
• Automatic global delivery
• Easy ways to transform files on the fly
• Clean API design and SDKs
• Infrastructure that “just works”

Trelae: The Modern Way

Trelae brings everything together in a single platform:

• Upload & Store files with a unified API
• Access through a global CDN instantly
• Operate on files directly: crop, scale, trim, compress, and more
• SDKs for developers starting with JavaScript, with more on the way

Here’s what that looks like in code:

import { Trelae } from "trelae-files";

const client = new Trelae({ apiKey: "YOUR_API_KEY" });

const namespace = trelae.namespace('f81d4fae-7dec-11d0-a765-00a0c91e6bf6')

// Upload a file
const file = namespace.upload(fileToUpload, mimeType, {location: '/', name: 'hello.txt'})

// Transform an image
await file
  .resize({
    width: 800,
    height: 600,
  })
  .save();

Why This Matters

• Reduces engineering effort
• Speeds up development cycles
• Improves reliability and performance
• Lets developers focus on building features, not infrastructure

The Future of File Handling

As apps become more media-heavy, file operations aren’t optional — they’re core. Trelae was built to be the infrastructure layer for modern file handling, so developers never need to reinvent the wheel again.

Get started with Trelae