InterPlanetary File System
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| Developer(s) | Protocol Labs |
|---|---|
| Stable release |
0.4.8 / 30 March 2017
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| Repository | github |
| Development status | Active |
| Written in |
Protocol implementations: Go (reference implementation), JavaScript, Python Client libraries: Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, Scala, Haskell, Swift, CommonLisp, Rust, Ruby, Swift, PHP, C# |
| Operating system | FreeBSD, Linux, macOS, Windows |
| Available in | Go, JavaScript, Python |
| Type | , distributed file system, content delivery network |
| License | MIT license |
| Website | ipfs |
InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a designed to create a permanent and decentralized method of storing and sharing files. It is a content-addressable, peer-to-peer hypermedia distribution protocol. Nodes in the IPFS network form a distributed file system. IPFS is an open source project developed since 2014 by Protocol Labs with help from the open source community. It was initially designed by Juan Benet.
In 2014, the IPFS protocol took advantage of the Bitcoin blockchain and network infrastructure in order to store unalterable data, remove duplicated files across the network, and obtain address information for accessing storage nodes to search for files in the network.
Implementations in Go and JavaScript exist, and a Python implementation is in progress. The Go implementation is considered to be the "reference implementation" while formal specifications are developed.
IPFS is a peer-to-peer distributed file system that seeks to connect all computing devices with the same system of files. In some ways, IPFS is similar to the World Wide Web, but IPFS could be seen as a single BitTorrent swarm, exchanging objects within one Git repository. In other words, IPFS provides a high-throughput, content-addressed block storage model, with content-addressed hyperlinks. This forms a generalized Merkle directed acyclic graph (DAG). IPFS combines a distributed hash table, an incentivized block exchange, and a self-certifying namespace. IPFS has no single point of failure, and nodes do not need to trust each other. Distributed Content Delivery saves bandwidth and prevents DDoS attacks which HTTP struggles with.
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