![](https://codelido.com/assets/files/2023-01-05/1672907303-459533-ipfs-http-2.png)
IPFS(Inter-Planetary File System) is a protocol and peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system.
The way we currently share data means that we rely on a centralised server; one that is owned by a single entity, which many people connect to in order to receive some data. There is a better way of sharing the data!
A node is a device that is connected to IPFS; that could be your phone or your desktop - anything capable of sending and receiving information.
The IPFS proposal is to replace the centralised server with a decentralised network of nodes. This means that instead of using a URL to collect data from a server, we could have thousands of nodes around the world intelligent of storing and sharing data with one another.
One significant advantage of IPFS is that a file may be stored on multiple nodes, with each node storing a small portion of the file. This means that instead of retrieving the file from a single node, you retrieve it from multiple nodes at the same time.
What makes IPFS unique?
IPFS is immutable: Once data is transferred to the network, it is unchangeable. Updates can be released, but they will always be in the type of new files and will never modify the old ones.
IPFS is duplication proof: When data is added to the network, it is chunked, stored, and hashed, allowing duplicate data to map to the same nodes and thus only one entry to be created. If a new file is fairly similar to others on the network, adding it to the network will require less storage as the network grows larger.
IPFS is decentralised: which means that nodes can leave and rejoin the network. Many of of nodes can be taken offline without affecting the overall system. Attempts to delete the data or censor files will be pointless unless every node on the network is destroyed.