Not every retrieval needs the whole DAG. IPLD Selectors describe exactly which nodes to traverse and match, so a client can fetch a slice, not everything.

Few browsers open ipfs:// links natively. Opera for Android does, Brave dropped it in 2024, and Chrome or Firefox need an extension. Gateway URLs work anywhere.

An IPFS private network only lets peers with the same swarm key connect. See how the key works, why you need your own bootstrap peers, and how pinning differs.

A single node either pins a file or it doesn't. Here is the general pattern multi-node pinning services use instead: replication factors and allocation.

A CAR file is one archive holding an IPFS DAG: its root CIDs plus every block under them. Learn the format, ipfs dag export and import, and how to pin one.

Bitswap has no payment system, so how does it stop freeloaders? Each peer keeps a ledger and a debt ratio, and gets stingier with peers who never give back.

IPLD is the data model under IPFS: what linked data can hold and how codecs like DAG-PB, DAG-CBOR and DAG-JSON turn it into bytes, with a real DAG-JSON example.

Being pinned is not the same as being findable. IPFS provider records expire, and nodes have to keep re-announcing content to the DHT to stay discoverable.

DNSLink points a domain name at IPFS content with one TXT record at _dnslink.yourdomain. See the exact syntax, how it differs from IPNS, and how to test it.

What is IPNS? It gives IPFS content a name that stays put while its CID changes. See how records are signed, how long names last, and when DNSLink fits better.

IPFS content verification lets a client check retrieved data against its CID directly, without trusting whichever peer or gateway sent it. Here is how.

IPFS libp2p is the peer-to-peer networking stack that DHT lookups and Bitswap transfers actually run on. Here is what it handles: identity, security, and NAT.