InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a decentralized storage and file-sharing protocol where data is not stored on one server but spread out across a peer-to-peer network. In the Web3 environment, IPFS makes Decentralization easy by providing a safer, faster, and censorship-resistant way to store and distribute content which is a valuable resource for DApps and blockchain initiatives. The main benefit of IPFS is that it is distributed.
Imagine you’ve just uploaded a file to IPFS... your file is split into smaller pieces, then cryptographically hashed and stored on multiple network nodes. Instead of using a location-based URL, each file or chunk of data is fetched with a unique content identifier (CID). This is good for network resiliency, and dependability, and means the data will always be accessible and unable to be changed even if some nodes go offline. Because it rules out the necessity of central servers which could suffer censorship, outages, or data breaches, IPFS is particularly important for Web3 as a means of decentralizing storage solutions.
As a result, IPFS is a great fit for hosting static assets such as application setups, NFT metadata, and website files.IPFS provides DApps with an efficient way to store and share large amounts of data, from documentation, multimedia assets, and user-generated content.
Interacting with blockchain platforms, DApps can use IPFS to store massive amounts of data off-chain, while keeping a reference to the data on-chain. Storing big files directly on a blockchain is expensive, and this guarantees scalability.