---
title: Volumes top-level element
description: Explore all the attributes the volumes top-level element can have.
keywords: compose, compose specification, volumes, compose file reference
aliases: 
 - /compose/compose-file/07-volumes/
weight: 40
---

{{% include "compose/volumes.md" %}}

To use a volume across multiple services, you must explicitly grant each service access by using the [volumes](services.md#volumes) attribute within the `services` top-level element. The `volumes` attribute has additional syntax that provides more granular control.

> [!TIP]
>
> Working with large repositories or monorepos, or with virtual file systems that are no longer scaling with your codebase? 
> Compose now takes advantage of [Synchronized file shares](/manuals/desktop/features/synchronized-file-sharing.md) and automatically creates file shares for bind mounts. 
> Ensure you're signed in to Docker with a paid subscription and have enabled both **Access experimental features** and **Manage Synchronized file shares with Compose** in Docker Desktop's settings.

## Example

The following example shows a two-service setup where a database's data directory is shared with another service as a volume, named
`db-data`, so that it can be periodically backed up.

```yml
services:
  backend:
    image: example/database
    volumes:
      - db-data:/etc/data

  backup:
    image: backup-service
    volumes:
      - db-data:/var/lib/backup/data

volumes:
  db-data:
```

The `db-data` volume is mounted at the `/var/lib/backup/data` and `/etc/data` container paths for backup and backend respectively.

Running `docker compose up` creates the volume if it doesn't already exist. Otherwise, the existing volume is used and is recreated if it's manually deleted outside of Compose.

## Attributes

An entry under the top-level `volumes` section can be empty, in which case it uses the container engine's default configuration for
creating a volume. Optionally, you can configure it with the following keys:

### `driver`

Specifies which volume driver should be used. If the driver is not available, Compose returns an error and doesn't deploy the application.

```yml
volumes:
  db-data:
    driver: foobar
```

### `driver_opts`

`driver_opts` specifies a list of options as key-value pairs to pass to the driver for this volume. The options are driver-dependent.

```yml
volumes:
  example:
    driver_opts:
      type: "nfs"
      o: "addr=10.40.0.199,nolock,soft,rw"