IPFS (InterPlanetary File System) is a synthesis of well-tested internet technologies such as DHTs , the Git versioning system and Bittorrent . It creates a P2P swarm that allows the exchange of IPFS objects . The totality of IPFS objects forms a cryptographically authenticated data structure known as a Merkle DAG and this data structure can be used to model many other data structures. We will in this post introduce IPFS objects and the Merkle DAG and give examples of structures that can be modelled using IPFS.



Instead of referring to objects (pics, articles, videos) by which server they are stored on, IPFS refers to everything by the hash on the file. The idea is that if in your browser you want to access a particular page then IPFS will ask the entire network "does anyone have this file that corresponds to this hash?" and a node on IPFS that does can return the file allowing you to access it.



IPFS can easily represent a file system consisting of files and directories.