Crypto glossary
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System)
IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a peer-to-peer protocol that locates and shares files by their content hash, widely used to store NFT images and metadata.
On the regular web, a URL points to a location: a specific server. IPFS instead uses content addressing. Each file is hashed into a content identifier, or CID, and any node holding data with that CID can serve it. If even one byte changes, the CID changes, so a link to a CID always refers to the same content. Files are split into blocks linked in a structure called a Merkle DAG, and nodes find each other through a distributed hash table.
IPFS is the default home for NFT metadata and images, dApp front ends and many open datasets, since a token can reference an ipfs:// link that cannot be silently swapped. Gateways let ordinary browsers fetch content over HTTPS, and naming systems such as IPNS or DNSLink handle content that needs updating.
IPFS does not store files by itself. Content stays available only while at least one node pins it, so projects pay pinning services or use Filecoin. Public gateways are centralised points of failure and have been abused to host phishing pages.
Example
An NFT's metadata points to ipfs://bafy..., so any IPFS gateway returns the same image; if the creator stops paying their pinning service and nobody else pins it, the image can stop loading.