diff --git a/dvc/tree/azure.py b/dvc/tree/azure.py
--- a/dvc/tree/azure.py
+++ b/dvc/tree/azure.py
@@ -35,16 +35,20 @@ def __init__(self, repo, config):
             container = self._az_config.get("storage", "container_name", None)
             self.path_info = self.PATH_CLS(f"azure://{container}")
 
-        self._conn_kwargs = {
-            opt: config.get(opt) or self._az_config.get("storage", opt, None)
-            for opt in ["connection_string", "sas_token"]
-        }
-        self._conn_kwargs["account_name"] = self._az_config.get(
-            "storage", "account", None
-        )
-        self._conn_kwargs["account_key"] = self._az_config.get(
-            "storage", "key", None
+        self._conn_str = config.get(
+            "connection_string"
+        ) or self._az_config.get("storage", "connection_string", None)
+
+        self._account_url = None
+        if not self._conn_str:
+            name = self._az_config.get("storage", "account", None)
+            self._account_url = f"https://{name}.blob.core.windows.net"
+
+        self._credential = config.get("sas_token") or self._az_config.get(
+            "storage", "sas_token", None
         )
+        if not self._credential:
+            self._credential = self._az_config.get("storage", "key", None)
 
     @cached_property
     def _az_config(self):
@@ -62,64 +66,71 @@ def _az_config(self):
     @cached_property
     def blob_service(self):
         # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
-        from azure.storage.blob import BlockBlobService
-        from azure.common import AzureMissingResourceHttpError
+        from azure.storage.blob import BlobServiceClient
+        from azure.core.exceptions import ResourceNotFoundError
 
         logger.debug(f"URL {self.path_info}")
-        logger.debug(f"Connection options {self._conn_kwargs}")
-        blob_service = BlockBlobService(**self._conn_kwargs)
+
+        if self._conn_str:
+            logger.debug(f"Using connection string '{self._conn_str}'")
+            blob_service = BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string(
+                self._conn_str, credential=self._credential
+            )
+        else:
+            logger.debug(f"Using account url '{self._account_url}'")
+            blob_service = BlobServiceClient(
+                self._account_url, credential=self._credential
+            )
+
         logger.debug(f"Container name {self.path_info.bucket}")
+        container_client = blob_service.get_container_client(
+            self.path_info.bucket
+        )
+
         try:  # verify that container exists
-            blob_service.list_blobs(
-                self.path_info.bucket, delimiter="/", num_results=1
-            )
-        except AzureMissingResourceHttpError:
-            blob_service.create_container(self.path_info.bucket)
+            container_client.get_container_properties()
+        except ResourceNotFoundError:
+            container_client.create_container()
+
         return blob_service
 
     def get_etag(self, path_info):
-        etag = self.blob_service.get_blob_properties(
+        blob_client = self.blob_service.get_blob_client(
             path_info.bucket, path_info.path
-        ).properties.etag
+        )
+        etag = blob_client.get_blob_properties().etag
         return etag.strip('"')
 
     def _generate_download_url(self, path_info, expires=3600):
         from azure.storage.blob import (  # pylint:disable=no-name-in-module
-            BlobPermissions,
+            BlobSasPermissions,
+            generate_blob_sas,
         )
 
         expires_at = datetime.utcnow() + timedelta(seconds=expires)
 
-        sas_token = self.blob_service.generate_blob_shared_access_signature(
-            path_info.bucket,
-            path_info.path,
-            permission=BlobPermissions.READ,
-            expiry=expires_at,
+        blob_client = self.blob_service.get_blob_client(
+            path_info.bucket, path_info.path
         )
-        download_url = self.blob_service.make_blob_url(
-            path_info.bucket, path_info.path, sas_token=sas_token
+
+        sas_token = generate_blob_sas(
+            blob_client.account_name,
+            blob_client.container_name,
+            blob_client.blob_name,
+            account_key=blob_client.credential.account_key,
+            permission=BlobSasPermissions(read=True),
+            expiry=expires_at,
         )
-        return download_url
+        return blob_client.url + "?" + sas_token
 
     def exists(self, path_info, use_dvcignore=True):
         paths = self._list_paths(path_info.bucket, path_info.path)
         return any(path_info.path == path for path in paths)
 
     def _list_paths(self, bucket, prefix):
-        blob_service = self.blob_service
-        next_marker = None
-        while True:
-            blobs = blob_service.list_blobs(
-                bucket, prefix=prefix, marker=next_marker
-            )
-
-            for blob in blobs:
-                yield blob.name
-
-            if not blobs.next_marker:
-                break
-
-            next_marker = blobs.next_marker
+        container_client = self.blob_service.get_container_client(bucket)
+        for blob in container_client.list_blobs(name_starts_with=prefix):
+            yield blob.name
 
     def walk_files(self, path_info, **kwargs):
         if not kwargs.pop("prefix", False):
@@ -137,7 +148,9 @@ def remove(self, path_info):
             raise NotImplementedError
 
         logger.debug(f"Removing {path_info}")
-        self.blob_service.delete_blob(path_info.bucket, path_info.path)
+        self.blob_service.get_blob_client(
+            path_info.bucket, path_info.path
+        ).delete_blob()
 
     def get_file_hash(self, path_info):
         return self.get_etag(path_info)
@@ -145,21 +158,27 @@ def get_file_hash(self, path_info):
     def _upload(
         self, from_file, to_info, name=None, no_progress_bar=False, **_kwargs
     ):
-        with Tqdm(desc=name, disable=no_progress_bar, bytes=True) as pbar:
-            self.blob_service.create_blob_from_path(
-                to_info.bucket,
-                to_info.path,
-                from_file,
-                progress_callback=pbar.update_to,
-            )
+
+        blob_client = self.blob_service.get_blob_client(
+            to_info.bucket, to_info.path
+        )
+        total = os.path.getsize(from_file)
+        with open(from_file, "rb") as fobj:
+            with Tqdm.wrapattr(
+                fobj, "read", desc=name, total=total, disable=no_progress_bar
+            ) as wrapped:
+                blob_client.upload_blob(wrapped)
 
     def _download(
         self, from_info, to_file, name=None, no_progress_bar=False, **_kwargs
     ):
-        with Tqdm(desc=name, disable=no_progress_bar, bytes=True) as pbar:
-            self.blob_service.get_blob_to_path(
-                from_info.bucket,
-                from_info.path,
-                to_file,
-                progress_callback=pbar.update_to,
-            )
+        blob_client = self.blob_service.get_blob_client(
+            from_info.bucket, from_info.path
+        )
+        total = blob_client.get_blob_properties().size
+        stream = blob_client.download_blob()
+        with open(to_file, "wb") as fobj:
+            with Tqdm.wrapattr(
+                fobj, "write", desc=name, total=total, disable=no_progress_bar
+            ) as wrapped:
+                stream.readinto(wrapped)
diff --git a/setup.py b/setup.py
--- a/setup.py
+++ b/setup.py
@@ -89,7 +89,7 @@ def run(self):
 gs = ["google-cloud-storage==1.19.0"]
 gdrive = ["pydrive2>=1.4.14"]
 s3 = ["boto3>=1.9.201"]
-azure = ["azure-storage-blob==2.1.0", "knack"]
+azure = ["azure-storage-blob>=12.0", "knack"]
 oss = ["oss2==2.6.1"]
 ssh = ["paramiko>=2.5.0"]
 hdfs = ["pyarrow>=0.17.0"]

@trallard I don't expect any major blockers and we would really appreciate a help with this! Could try to bump it up and see if we can run tests (create a PR from a fork)?
diff --git a/tests/remotes/azure.py b/tests/remotes/azure.py
--- a/tests/remotes/azure.py
+++ b/tests/remotes/azure.py
@@ -25,10 +25,10 @@ class Azure(Base, CloudURLInfo):
 @pytest.fixture(scope="session")
 def azure_server(docker_compose, docker_services):
     from azure.storage.blob import (  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
-        BlockBlobService,
+        BlobServiceClient,
     )
-    from azure.common import (  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
-        AzureException,
+    from azure.core.exceptions import (  # pylint: disable=no-name-in-module
+        AzureError,
     )
 
     port = docker_services.port_for("azurite", 10000)
@@ -36,11 +36,11 @@ def azure_server(docker_compose, docker_services):
 
     def _check():
         try:
-            BlockBlobService(
-                connection_string=connection_string,
+            BlobServiceClient.from_connection_string(
+                connection_string
             ).list_containers()
             return True
-        except AzureException:
+        except AzureError:
             return False
 
     docker_services.wait_until_responsive(
diff --git a/tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py b/tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py
--- a/tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py
+++ b/tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@ def test_init_env_var(monkeypatch, dvc):
     config = {"url": "azure://"}
     tree = AzureTree(dvc, config)
     assert tree.path_info == "azure://" + container_name
-    assert tree._conn_kwargs["connection_string"] == connection_string
+    assert tree._conn_str == connection_string
 
 
 def test_init(dvc):
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def test_init(dvc):
     config = {"url": url, "connection_string": connection_string}
     tree = AzureTree(dvc, config)
     assert tree.path_info == url
-    assert tree._conn_kwargs["connection_string"] == connection_string
+    assert tree._conn_str == connection_string
 
 
 def test_get_file_hash(tmp_dir, azure):

remote: upgrade Azure Blob storage version
Hi!

At the moment `dvc[azure]` has as a requirement `azure = ["azure-storage-blob==2.1.0"]`

Recently there Python SDKs were massively improved to be more Pythonic and efficient. I was wondering if it would be possible to allow for the use of the latest version (12.1). Or if there are any blockers for this I can help with?


tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py::test_init_env_var tests/unit/remote/test_azure.py::test_init