At Pinata, we’ve been building on the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) for years, continuously innovating on top of this transformative protocol. At the heart of everything we do is the concept of content identifiers (CIDs).

CIDs represent a fundamental shift in how we think about storing and addressing data. A CID isn’t just a hash of a file—it’s a combination of the hash, metadata about how the content is hashed, details about encoding, and instructions for interpreting the data. The result? A unique identifier that looks like this:

QmTfeNh3PHBqZuBb7QarBq1c1n5zn5EMa4yCuZLSDqfnPi

or

bafkreify4iapnu6l56c2jcbqnxm2tjwr6gr6qgcb6fae3eeqfnc3z47kgy

These represent v0 and v1 of the CID standard, respectively. What makes CIDs powerful is their independence from any specific file location. A CID references the exact content of a file, not its location, meaning you can retrieve it through a local IPFS node, a public gateway, or a dedicated Pinata gateway. This flexibility is the cornerstone of why CIDs are so transformative.

Why CIDs Matter: Portability and Openness

Let’s illustrate the power of CIDs with a real-world example: Imagine a social network that stores user images on IPFS, referencing them with CIDs. Over time, the platform grows in popularity—but then collapses. What happens to your photos?

Thanks to CIDs, you’re not locked into the platform. You can fetch your images directly via their CIDs, using any IPFS-compatible service. Whether you run your own IPFS node, upload them to Pinata, or migrate them to another platform supporting IPFS, your content is yours to control.

This might sound idealistic, but it mirrors how the early web worked. Blogs and podcasts, distributed via RSS, remain a sliver of that era. Any feed reader or podcast app can handle them, making data portable and free from platform lock-in.

CIDs take this concept further. Not only are files portable, but they’re also immutable. A CID is a cryptographic guarantee of the file’s content, ensuring you always get exactly what you expect. This immutability is critical in building trustworthy and resilient applications.

What’s Next For CIDs: Linked Datasets and File-First Architecture

CIDs aren’t just about individual files—they enable developers to create entire linked datasets. Think of a parent CID as a manifest that references other CIDs. If you’ve interacted with NFTs, you’ve seen this in action:

• An NFT’s metadata is stored in JSON format.
• That metadata links to other CIDs, often pointing to image or video files.

This creates a chain of immutable, content-addressable data. It’s effectively a distributed database in JSON form—ideal for building robust indexing services.

Outside the world of NFTs, linked datasets create a robust framework for file-first architecture. Thinking about the history of computing, most solutions end with the file. A database stores a pointer to a file, then the application has to fetch the file. This creates unneeded complexity and latency. In a file-first architecture, the file is the most important part of the application’s data stack and everything branches off of it. CIDs make this type of architecture possible. In fact, Pinata has supported it for years, and you can even build some complex applications without an external database.

For developers, this opens up new possibilities, especially for applications reliant on open and transparent data. By linking content in an immutable way, you create a foundation for systems that are resilient, interoperable, and built to last.

Looking Ahead: The Role of CIDs in Open Applications

As developers, we’re at the cusp of a significant shift. For decades, media-heavy applications have been walled gardens, locking users’ data into proprietary systems. But as these systems start to open, CIDs will be pivotal.

Content identifiers allow developers to build applications where data isn’t just portable—it’s future-proof. A file is represented by its content, creating an immutable and traceable record while ensuring flexibility for its owner. This paradigm makes possible the kind of decentralized, user-first applications the web was originally envisioned to support.

Whether you’re building the next generation of social networks, open data platforms, or innovative tools for creators, CIDs will be at the core of the future. They unlock a world where content is open, transparent, and truly owned by those who create it.

Let’s build that future—together.