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An impact report from the front-lines of nostr client development.
NIP-96
Nostr file storage, NIP-96 servers, media upload
An HTTP API for file storage servers that Nostr clients can upload to and then reference by URL from events, without bloating relays.
NIP-96 defines an HTTP API for file storage servers that Nostr clients can talk to. A user uploads an image or a video to a NIP-96 server and gets back a URL that is safe to reference from a Nostr event. The server keeps the file. The relay only stores the URL and a hash.
Authentication uses NIP-98, a signed HTTP authorization header built from the user's Nostr keypair. A client signs each request, the server verifies the signature, and rate-limits or charges based on the authenticated pubkey. There is no email signup and no separate account system.
NIP-96 is what makes Nostr clients able to post images and video without bloating relays. Public servers that implement it include nostr.build, nostrcheck.me, and Satellite CDN. Blossom (BUD-01/BUD-02) is a newer spec that covers similar ground and is supported by many of the same servers.