Kopia
kopia · Backup & recovery
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What is Kopia?
Kopia makes regular copies of the files that matter to you and stores them where you choose, such as a cloud bucket, a NAS or an external drive. Everything is encrypted on your computer before it leaves, and only you hold the password. After the first run, each backup only uploads what has changed, which keeps upload times and storage bills down.
Kopia is a backup and restore tool for Windows, macOS and Linux that saves encrypted, compressed and deduplicated snapshots of chosen files and folders. Snapshots can go to S3-compatible storage, Azure Blob Storage, Backblaze B2, Google Cloud Storage, WebDAV, SFTP or local and network drives. It has both a command-line tool and a desktop app called KopiaUI.
Core capabilities
- Encrypts all data on your machine before upload, using AES-256 or ChaCha20.
- Stores identical content only once, so repeat snapshots stay small.
- Policies set the snapshot schedule, exclusions, retention and compression.
Snapshots and policies
Kopia backs up chosen files and folders as snapshots rather than imaging the whole machine. It uses content-addressable storage, so every snapshot is incremental and identical files are stored only once, even across computers that share a repository. Policies control how often snapshots run, which files are excluded, how long snapshots are kept and how data is compressed. A policy can apply to the whole repository, a user, a host or a single path.
- Snapshots
- Deduplication
- Retention
- Policies
Encryption and storage choice
All data, including file and folder names, is encrypted on your machine before upload, and Kopia does not allow unencrypted backups. The repository password never leaves your computer, so a forgotten password cannot be recovered. You pick and pay for the storage yourself, from S3-compatible services, Azure, Backblaze B2 and Google Cloud Storage to WebDAV, SFTP and local disks. Optional Reed-Solomon error correction and built-in consistency checks help guard against corrupted backups.
- Encryption
- Cloud storage
- Error correction
- Verification
Install it under Apache-2.0
Kopia is a standalone binary, with packages for Scoop, winget, Homebrew, APT, YUM and the AUR, builds for FreeBSD and OpenBSD, and Docker images. The KopiaUI installer includes the desktop app and the command-line tool, and both use the same engine. A single computer needs no server, but an optional server mode lets you manage backups for several machines centrally. Kopia is released under the Apache-2.0 licence.
- Desktop app
- CLI
- Docker
- Apache-2.0
Where it fits
Use cases
- 01
Back up a laptop to cloud storage
Install KopiaUI, create a repository on a provider such as Backblaze B2 or Amazon S3, and set a repository password. Add the folders you want to protect and set a policy for how often snapshots run and how long they are kept. Kopia encrypts everything before upload, so the storage provider cannot read your files.
- 02
Restore a lost file or folder
Pick the snapshot from the point in time you need. You can restore a whole snapshot to any local or network location, restore single files, or run kopia mount to browse the snapshot as a local folder and copy what you need. The getting started guide recommends mounting as the main way to restore.
- 03
Manage backups for several computers in one place
Run Kopia as a repository server in front of your storage and add a login for each machine with kopia server user add. Each client then connects with a username and password and never needs the storage credentials. Each user only sees their own snapshots and policies.