Web3 Decentralized Storage Explained: IPFS, Filecoin, Arweave, Reconstructing the Underlying Infrastructure of Digital Data

1. Inherent Pain Points of Centralized Cloud Storage, Giving Rise to Web3 Distributed Storage

Current mainstream internet storage is centralized cloud (AWS, Alibaba Cloud, Tencent Cloud, etc.), where all files are stored in the vendor's own data centers, inherently possessing four major irremediable flaws:

• Data ownership does not belong to users: Platforms have the authority to delete, block, or take down files, making content susceptible to censorship, bans, and forced removals; when service providers shut down services or downsize, files are directly lost, and links become permanently 404.
• Extremely high risk of single point of failure: Power outages in data centers, server crashes, and hacker intrusions can lead to massive data leaks or total network access interruptions, with large cloud service providers historically experiencing widespread outages.
• Data is tamperable, and tracing is difficult: Service providers can modify images, documents, and videos in the background, and users lack cryptographic proof to verify the original file content, making the credibility of digital artworks, archives, and research data hard to guarantee.
• Cost model is unfriendly: Monthly subscription storage fees + high outbound traffic fees lead to continuously accumulating costs for long-term archiving and massive static material storage, with huge expenses for long-term storage of large AI datasets and NFT libraries.

Web3 decentralized storage relies on P2P networks, cryptographic hashes, and blockchain incentives to encrypt and shard files, distributing them across countless independent nodes worldwide, transforming storage resources into an open and free market, fundamentally solving the monopoly problem of centralized storage. The three core underlying solutions in the industry are IPFS, Filecoin, and Arweave, which complement each other to support on-chain data, digital assets, and AI datasets across all scenarios.

2. Simplified Explanation of the Three Core Decentralized Storage Protocols

1. IPFS: Incentive-free Underlying Transmission Protocol, Universal File Layer for Web3

IPFS, or InterPlanetary File System, is a peer-to-peer file transfer standard that does not come with tokens or mining incentives. Its core innovation is content addressing via CID hashes, which completely overturns the traditional HTTP location addressing logic.

• Traditional HTTP: Relies on server addresses to locate files; if the server disappears, the link becomes invalid;
• IPFS Logic: After a file is uploaded, a unique hash fingerprint CID is generated. If the file content changes, the CID changes accordingly. Any node on the network that retains the file can access it permanently, avoiding 404 errors.

Files are automatically split into small chunks, with global nodes providing redundant backups, naturally adapting to DApp frontends, NFT images, static web pages, and small document storage. However, IPFS itself lacks economic incentives, and nodes have no motivation to host files long-term. Therefore, IPFS alone cannot guarantee permanent data retention, necessitating the use of Filecoin as an incentive layer.

2. Filecoin: Incentive Storage Market Supporting IPFS, Main Force for Commercial Large-capacity Storage

Filecoin is a blockchain incentive network built on IPFS, creating a standardized storage supply-demand market to address the lack of motivation for IPFS nodes to host data. It is currently the largest decentralized storage network by effective storage capacity.

Core Technical Proof Mechanisms

• Proof of Replication (PoRep): Verifies that miners genuinely and completely store users' encrypted shards, preventing empty disk fraud;
• Proof of SpaceTime (PoSt): Miners periodically submit proofs to demonstrate long-term data custody; violations result in penalties (Slash).
• The network is divided into two major markets: the storage market (users pay to rent hard disk space) and the retrieval market (nodes provide file downloads for rewards). Any individual or institution can contribute idle hard drives to become storage miners, monetizing unused storage resources.
• Adaptable scenarios: TB-level massive materials, AI training datasets, metaverse videos, long-term institutional archiving, modular Rollup raw transaction data storage.

3. Arweave: Dedicated Network for Permanent Storage, One-time Payment, Data Retained Forever

Unlike the contract-based storage of IPFS + Filecoin, Arweave focuses on permanent storage (Permaweb), innovating the Blockweave structure where each new block is linked to a randomly chosen historical block. The consensus mechanism SPoRA forces miners to retain all historical data; failing to store old blocks prevents participation in mining.

Unique Economic Model

1. Users upload files with a one-time storage fee, most of which goes into a permanent donation fund. The fund's long-term investment returns continuously subsidize miners, theoretically ensuring data retention for at least 200 years, eliminating the need for monthly renewals and avoiding data loss due to contract expiration.
2. Adaptable scenarios: NFT metadata, historical archives, legal evidence, academic literature, decentralized static websites, and immutable on-chain credentials.

3. Comprehensive Comparison of Decentralized Storage vs. Centralized Cloud Storage

4. In-depth Exploration of Four Core Landing Scenarios

(1) Permanent Data Storage on Chain: Solving the Problem of Digital Information Disappearance

Traditional web pages, images, and archives rely on centralized servers, leading to the complete disappearance of a large amount of early internet materials and historical records when platforms shut down.

Decentralized storage relies on redundant backups + token incentives to form a long-term retention mechanism: Filecoin locks in storage contracts for several years; Arweave achieves cross-century permanent archiving with a one-time payment. Government archives, media historical materials, open-source code, and academic papers are migrating to decentralized networks, building a digital library that will never disappear.

(2) Standard Storage for NFT Metadata, the Foundation of Digital Asset Value

The blockchain only records NFT ownership and transfer records, while the metadata such as images, videos, and feature descriptions is large and cannot be directly stored on-chain. Early projects commonly used centralized clouds to store materials, and once service providers take them down, NFTs become mere shells on-chain, with asset value dropping to zero.

• Industry-wide solution: Upload NFT images and feature files to IPFS/Arweave, recording the unique CID hash within the contract.
• Arweave is suitable for blue-chip NFTs and long-term collectibles: one-time payment for permanent storage, preventing metadata loss;
• IPFS + Filecoin is suitable for bulk PFPs and in-game items: large capacity and low-cost bulk hosting.

The CID hash is bound to the NFT, allowing anyone to verify that the material has not been tampered with, fully ensuring the authenticity and long-term value of digital collectibles.

(3) Decentralized Datasets for AI Large Models, Breaking Data Monopoly

The current pain point in the AI industry is that training datasets are concentrated in leading tech companies, and data owners cannot share or monetize their materials, leading to potential data leaks and copyright infringement during the training process. Decentralized storage provides a complete solution:

• Massive training materials are encrypted and stored in shards, with access authorized as needed, without leaking original private data;
• Datasets are tokenized, and DataDAO allocates training profits through smart contracts, allowing material creators to continue sharing in the profits;
• Zero-knowledge proofs are used, enabling institutions to verify dataset compliance without accessing the complete original data;
• Filecoin supports massive TB and PB-level training materials at low costs, facilitating multiple rounds of model iteration training.
• A decentralized dataset market is forming, achieving open-source sharing of AI data and fair distribution of rights.

(4) Complete Economic Model Breakdown of Storage Mining

1. Filecoin Mining Mechanism

• Participation threshold: Idle hard disk space, staking FIL tokens as a performance bond;
• Sources of income: User storage order service fees, block issuance rewards, retrieval download fees;
• Constraint rules: Failure to submit timely proofs of space-time or data loss triggers penalties on staked tokens;
• Market adjustment: Supply and demand automatically match; if storage demand rises, the price of FIL storage increases, attracting more miners to expand capacity, forming a self-balancing market.

2. Arweave Mining Mechanism

• Participation threshold: Hard disk storage of all historical blocks on the network, no need for large long-term staking;
• Sources of income: Long-term dividends from the donation fund, block issuance of AR tokens;
• Core constraints: The SPoRA consensus requires miners to retrieve rare historical blocks to participate in block issuance; failing to retain complete historical data prevents mining, naturally incentivizing permanent storage;
• Fee characteristics: One-time payment with no subsequent fees, long-term stable storage costs, unaffected by short-term token price fluctuations.

Summary of Differences Between the Two Mining Routes

Filecoin leans towards commercial large-capacity on-demand storage, with mining profits fluctuating with market storage orders; Arweave leans towards permanent archival storage, with mining relying on long-term fund subsidies, resulting in a longer and more stable profit cycle.

5. Development Trends in the Decentralized Storage Industry

• Layered adaptation to the Web3 full-stack architecture: Deep collaboration with Layer2, modular DA layers, and ZK cross-chain, with Rollup transaction raw data and on-chain credentials stored uniformly in Filecoin, significantly reducing Ethereum Blob storage costs;
• Standardization of NFT metadata industry standards: New projects uniformly adopt IPFS/Arweave for material storage, gradually phasing out centralized cloud storage for metadata;
• Explosion of decentralized AI data economy: Tokenization of datasets and large-scale implementation of DataDAO, making decentralized storage a standard configuration for large model training;
• Popularization of hybrid storage models: IPFS handles high-speed hot data access, Filecoin supports large-capacity cold data archiving, and Arweave stores permanent proof of rights, balancing speed, cost, and permanence;
• Continuous reduction of tool thresholds: One-click hosting and wallet direct connection to storage gateways are maturing, allowing ordinary creators and small businesses to use decentralized storage without specialized blockchain knowledge.

Conclusion

Decentralized storage is not just a replacement for cloud storage but the foundational infrastructure for data sovereignty in the Web3 era. IPFS provides a universal file transfer standard, Filecoin builds a commercial large-capacity storage market, and Arweave addresses the need for permanent retention of digital information. The combination of the three connects NFT, DeFi, AI, blockchain gaming, and archival evidence across all fields. It returns data control to users, relying on cryptography and token incentives to construct an open, censorship-resistant, and tamper-proof distributed data network, serving as another core pillar supporting the large-scale implementation of Web3 beyond layered expansion, modular blockchain, and ZK technology.

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