💾 NFT Storage: IPFS, Arweave, On-Chain
Learn how NFT metadata and images are stored permanently
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0 / 5 completed📦 The NFT Storage Problem
When you buy an NFT, you're not buying a JPEG—you're buying a token that points to a JPEG. But where does that image actually live? This seemingly simple question reveals one of the biggest challenges in the NFT ecosystem: permanent, decentralized storage.
⚠️ The $69M Problem
In 2021, Beeple's "Everydays" sold for $69 million. The NFT token lives on Ethereum forever. But the 5,000-image collage? It's hosted on a server somewhere. If that server goes down, the most expensive NFT in history becomes a broken link. This isn't theoretical—thousands of early NFTs have already suffered "link rot."
Reality check: Your $10K NFT might be pointing to an AWS bucket that costs the creator $5/month. If they stop paying...
🔄 Interactive: Storage Location Comparison
Explore the trade-offs between different NFT storage approaches. Each has different costs, permanence, and practical limitations.
On-Chain Storage
Analysis & Trade-offs
- •Truly permanent
- •Censorship-resistant
- •No external dependencies
- •Extremely expensive
- •Size limitations
- •Gas fees spike
- •Not practical for images/videos
🔗 What Gets Stored Where
💡 The Core Challenge
Blockchains are designed for small, expensive data (transactions). Storing a single 2MB image on Ethereum would cost ~$10M in gas fees. But NFTs need to reference images, videos, even 3D models.
Solution: Store data off-chain, but use decentralized, content-addressed systems that maintain the permanence promise.
📊 Reality Check: NFT Storage in Practice
🎯 What You'll Learn
- •How IPFS uses content addressing to make data verifiable and distributed
- •Comparing IPFS, Arweave, Filecoin, and on-chain storage trade-offs
- •Best practices for NFT metadata and pinning services
- •How to verify your NFT's storage is actually permanent