Artifactory supports three main repository types:

Local Repositories: Store artifacts that are developed and built internally by your organization. These are your proprietary libraries, applications, and Docker images.

Remote Repositories: Act as proxies to external repositories (Maven Central, npm registry, Docker Hub). They cache downloaded artifacts locally for faster subsequent access and continued availability even if the external repository is down.

Virtual Repositories: Aggregate multiple local and remote repositories under a single URL. They provide a unified view and allow you to define resolution order and inclusion/exclusion rules.

Example configuration:

Virtual Repo "libs-release" includes:
├── libs-release-local (priority 1)
├── jcenter-cache (priority 2)  
└── maven-central-cache (priority 3)

This setup ensures builds first look for artifacts in your local repository, then in cached external repositories.