What is the difference between snapshot and ami in AWS

The difference between a snapshot and an ami is that a snapshot is a point-in-time backup of an EBS volume, while an AMI is an absolute image that includes OS, associated configuration settings, and Application server, it is used to launch new instances.

We need to understand what are two types of AMIs (Amazon Machine Images)

1. Instance-Store AMIs: these are rare, and generally speaking I don’t recommend them for beginners, it is a copy of the root instance-store volume in addition to some metadata, all of it is saved in an S3 bucket with a special format.

2. EBS Boot AMIs: it contains an EBS snapshot of root volume as well as metadata like architecture, AMI name, block device mappings, and Kernal. Most probably you’re using this methodology.

By using correct metadata, with the correct AKI ID (also ensure that it boots properly) by registering with EBS snapshot you can create EBS boot AMI.