Blockchain & Cryptocurrency Glossary

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InterPlanetary File System

1 min read
Pronunciation
[in-ter-pleh-NET-uh-ree fayl SIS-təm]
Analogy
IPFS is like a BitTorrent swarm combined with a global CDN—files are located by their content hash, not by server location, and served by any peer that has them.
Definition
A distributed, peer‑to‑peer file storage protocol that uses content addressing to uniquely identify files and enable decentralized hosting.
Key Points Intro
IPFS revolutionizes file storage with these principles:
Key Points

Content addressing: Files are referenced by their cryptographic hash (CID).

Decentralized hosting: Peers cache and serve content without central servers.

Merkle DAG: Files and directories are structured in an immutable Merkle Directed Acyclic Graph.

Versioning: IPFS supports version control via IPNS.

Example
A web application pins its static assets on IPFS; users fetch images by CID from nearby peers, reducing reliance on any single CDN provider.
Technical Deep Dive
IPFS nodes communicate over libp2p, exchanging blocks via the Bitswap protocol. Each file is chunked, hashed, and organized in a Merkle DAG. The CID encodes the hash function, digest, and codec. IPNS provides a mutable pointer by publishing a signed record to the DHT, allowing content updates under the same name.
Security Warning
Unpinned content can be garbage‑collected; use pinning services or run your own node to ensure availability.
Caveat
Retrieval performance depends on peer availability; cold content may be slow to fetch.
Related Terms
libp2p

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