Recovery Time Objective, or RTO, is the target amount of time it should take to restore a system, service, or application after an outage.
Why RTO matters
A short RTO means the business needs fast recovery, which may require standby systems, automation, failover, and higher cost. A longer RTO may allow simpler recovery methods.
RTO versus RPO
RTO is about downtime. RPO is about data loss. A complete recovery plan considers both.
RTO turns the phrase "restore quickly" into a measurable recovery goal.