Concepts

Welcome to the Concepts section of the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) docs. Here, you can:

• Learn what IPFS is and isn't, the problems it solves, the different subsystems that it is composed of and how each one works in the 3-page Basic Concepts.
• Dive into ideas like hashing, immutability, persistence (and more) that underlie IPFS in Ideas and theory
• Learn more about the subsystems that IPFS is composed of in Subsystems and components
• Get an overview of IPFS implementations.
• Compare IPFS to other similar systems.
• Get answers to common questions about IPFS in the FAQ.
• Reference the glossary of terms used in the IPFS ecosystem.
• Read academic papers written about IPFS, including the original IPFS whitepaper.
• Get inspired with IPFS usage ideas and examples.
• Learn about IPFS in theater mode with these helpful videos.

Don't see what you're looking for?

We're adding more documentation all the time and making ongoing revisions to existing docs, but if you don't see what you need, please file an issue (opens new window) to let us know! We also recommend visiting the IPFS forums (opens new window) for support and discussion with IPFS enthusiasts and experts worldwide.

Learn the basics

1. What IPFS is and isn't
2. IPFS and the problems it solves
3. How IPFS works

Ideas and theory

• Cryptographic hashing
• Immutability
• Persistence, permanence and pinning
• Privacy and encryption
• Nodes

Subsystems and components

• Content Identifiers (CIDs)
• Bitswap
• Distributed Hash Tables (DHTs)
• DNSLink
• File systems
• IPFS Gateway
• IPLD
• IPNS
• libp2p
• Merkle Directed Acyclic Graphs (DAGs)

Examples and case studies

• Usage ideas & examples
• Case study: Arbol
• Case study: Audius
• Case study: Fleek
• Case study: LikeCoin
• Case study: Morpheus.Network
• Case study: Snapshot

Video overviews

• Understanding how IPFS deals with files (IPFS Camp 2019) (opens new window)

• The lifecycle of data in the DWeb (IPFS Camp 2019) (opens new window)

• IPFS: A Whiteboard Overview (opens new window) Check out ResNetLab on Tour for complete tutorials on IPFS and the Web 3.0 stack:

• ResNetLab on Tour 2021 (opens new window)

Further reading

Want a more in-depth look into the decentralized web? Here are a few papers that are useful for understanding IPFS, whether it be understanding the IPFS spec itself or the background for the web, protocols, hashing, and so on. Read the papers →