# Design and Evaluation of IPFS: A Storage Layer for the Decentralized Web

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.05877 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.05877/

## Key facts

- Cited by 6 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 11 Aug 2022.

## Built on by (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Source Coverage and Citation Bias in LLM-based vs. Traditional Search Engines](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.09483/) (2025)
- [DAO-Agent: Zero Knowledge-Verified Incentives for Decentralized Multi-Agent Coordination](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.20973/) (2025)
- [Decentralised Moderation for Interoperable Social Networks: A Conversation-based Approach for Pleroma and the Fediverse](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2404.03048/) (2024)
- [Kadabra: Adapting Kademlia for the Decentralized Web](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2210.12858/) (2022)
- [OriginBlame: Record- and Token-Level Data Provenance for AI Training Datasets](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.13037/) (2026)
- [Share No More Than the Request Requires: Federated Disclosure for Perspective-Aware AI](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.22953/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Recent years have witnessed growing consolidation of web operations. For example, the majority of web traffic now originates from a few organizations, and even micro-websites often choose to host on large pre-existing cloud infrastructures. In response to this, the "Decentralized Web" attempts to distribute ownership and operation of web services more evenly. This paper describes the design and implementation of the largest and most widely used Decentralized Web platform - the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) - an open-source, content-addressable peer-to-peer network that provides distributed data storage and delivery. IPFS has millions of daily content retrievals and already underpins dozens of third-party applications. This paper evaluates the performance of IPFS by introducing a set of measurement methodologies that allow us to uncover the characteristics of peers in the IPFS network. We reveal presence in more than 2700 Autonomous Systems and 152 countries, the majority of which operate outside large central cloud providers like Amazon or Azure. We further evaluate IPFS performance, showing that both publication and retrieval delays are acceptable for a wide range of use cases. Finally, we share our datasets, experiences and lessons learned.