What is one read capacity unit equivalent to for strongly consistent reads in DynamoDB?

In Amazon DynamoDB, a read capacity unit for strongly consistent reads is defined as the capacity to handle one read per second for items that are up to 4 KB in size. This means that if you perform a strongly consistent read operation on an item that is 4 KB or smaller, it will consume one read capacity unit from your provisioned throughput.

Strongly consistent reads ensure that the result reflects all writes that received a successful response prior to the read. This consistency model requires more resources compared to eventual consistency, which allows for reads that may not reflect the most recent data, thus the standard is set for the smaller item size to maintain performance.

Understanding this aspect of read capacity units is essential for optimizing the performance and cost-effectiveness of your DynamoDB usage. For instance, if you expect to read larger items frequently, you need to scale the read capacity units accordingly or consider using compressed data techniques.