IPFS (InterPlanetary File System)

A peer-to-peer protocol for storing and retrieving files by content hash.

IPFS is a decentralized file storage protocol where files are addressed by their cryptographic hash (content ID) rather than by location. The same file pinned by multiple nodes has the same address from any of them. IPFS is the standard backend for NFT metadata, ENS records, and decentralized website hosting.

IPFS by itself doesn't guarantee permanence — if no node pins a file, it can disappear. Pinning services (Pinata, Filebase) and incentivized storage networks (Filecoin, Arweave) address this with paid persistence guarantees.