IPFN — the protocol, plainly

Learn.

Ten minutes to fluency — images, books, and the chain that holds them.

Concept 01

What is an IPFN?

An International Pinned File Number identifies a public registration claim. Inspect its claimant, available file fingerprint and completed pin or anchor receipts. The number is not itself a content hash or a judgment of ownership.

Your file

image · book · audio

Fingerprint

SHA-256 of the exact bytes

Pinned

signed record on IPFS

The number

IPFN — public, on the record

The plain answers

Concept 02

FileChain, explained.

Eligible registrations are grouped into dated volumes. Each completed volume records its hash, the previous anchor and a Base transaction. Pending or failed steps must not be read as confirmed anchors.

VOL n−2VOL n−1VOL nSchematic — not live status

Compare the canonical JSON’s SHA-256 with its recorded Base mainnet transaction. A changed file will not match the original digest. A successful registration alone does not prove this step completed.

Open the public ledger

Concept 03 — books

Check any number

Anchoring a book — ISBN ⇆ IPFN.

The edition

A printing, in the book trade

ISBN — one per format

The edition — trade

Same work
both numbers

BKS-….3pfn.xyz

Registered book details · claimant on record

Inspect available hashes, pins and ledger receipts

The work — registry

BASE · MAINNET

confirmed transaction required

The ISBN identifies an edition and format in the book trade; the IPFN identifies a registered claim. A book can link both where an ISBN exists. Bookend adds the reader-facing home; ARTSSN provides the working desk. Registration does not transfer rights or independently establish authorship.

Originals, exports and C2PA

A SHA-256 identifies exact bytes, including metadata. Keep the original when editing or compressing: a preview, PDF export or compressed copy is a separate derivative and gets its own fingerprint. The IPFS pin is a registered manifest, not a promise that every original image is pinned.

Keeping identical original bytes preserves embedded credentials, but preservation is not validation. Phoenix does not currently validate or issue C2PA credentials. Byte-changing exports do not inherit the source’s signature; share the original and its record when provenance matters.

Guides

Verification walkthroughA real registered work, resolving live from a browser bar.Check a numberIPFN, IPFS CID, or SHA-256 — presence, record, certificate.Reading a ledgerVolumes, hashes, anchors — line by line.Certify a workHash, pin, number — get a work on the record.Your rightsWhat registration claims — and what stays yours.FAQThe questions everyone asks, answered plainly.

Why a registrar for creative work? Read the mission ›