Editing LBRY (section)

= Downloading Files From the LBRY Blockchain =

Downloading from LBRY goes two ways. Note that this is a technical dive on how downloading works -- if you just want a file, click the Download button on whatever interface you're using and forget about it.

== Odysee ==

If you download via Odysee, you're downloading straight from them and not hitting the blockchain at all. They do still seed to people downloading via other means, but they make the whole process opaque to you. You're just grabbing it over HTTP.

== Native LBRY Clients ==

Native LBRY clients follow a process that resembles something like a torrent:

# Consult the blockchain for the SHA-384 hash of the file's <code>sd_hash</code> (stream descriptor hash), which contains metadata about the rest of the file
# Consult the DHT (yes, the torrent DHT) for seeders that advertise the <code>sd_hash</code> we just acquired
# Reach out to a selected peer to download the stream descriptor blob
# Read the stream descriptor blob to see what blobs we need to acquire the file
# Repeat 2-3 for every blob we need
# Assemble the blobs into a file
# (Optional) Advertise to the DHT that we have all the blobs for this file and seed them to the cluster

The process of downloading blobs is parallelized by default.

This method of acquiring data is as resilient to malice and tampering as the SHA-384 checksum. The address of every blob is ''also'' the mechanism by which you ensure it hasn't been corrupted in transit.