Blockchain Capabilities

[BitGeoCol]

Hi Everyone ! I am really new to this amazing techonology hence I got a bunch of questions. There's one actually which is killing my mind. Is it possible to storage information within the blockchain? I mean I have heard it's good to store all the transactions which are simple lines or words(strings), but what about storaging a file like JPG, PDF, MP3 and things like that, Is that presently possible or I am just ignoring the fact or maybe It has not been developed yet. Given the case it isn't, What is actually possible to keep secret and secure within a block of the Blockchain aside from transactions in the form of strings code. Thank you for taking the time of reading my question. Sory if it's too silly for your expertise.
Best Regards,

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[achow101]

First of all, transactions are not lines or strings. They are just data in a specific format.

You can store any sequence of bytes (aka any data) that you want in the blockchain. However just because you can does not mean that you should. Storing your data means that thousands of nodes must also store your data, and that is a lot of disk space and computer power that needs to go towards storing your data for eternity. Storing arbitrary data on the blockchain is rude to node operators and everyone else that uses Bitcoin as you are taking up block space that could otherwise be used for actual transactions. So yes, you can store data, but you really shouldn't.

[unitrust]

First of all, transactions are not lines or strings. They are just data in a specific format.

You can store any sequence of bytes (aka any data) that you want in the blockchain. However just because you can does not mean that you should. Storing your data means that thousands of nodes must also store your data, and that is a lot of disk space and computer power that needs to go towards storing your data for eternity. Storing arbitrary data on the blockchain is rude to node operators and everyone else that uses Bitcoin as you are taking up block space that could otherwise be used for actual transactions. So yes, you can store data, but you really shouldn't.

wow, really like this explanation, thanks for it.

[vv181]

First of all, transactions are not lines or strings. They are just data in a specific format.

You can store any sequence of bytes (aka any data) that you want in the blockchain. However just because you can does not mean that you should. Storing your data means that thousands of nodes must also store your data, and that is a lot of disk space and computer power that needs to go towards storing your data for eternity. Storing arbitrary data on the blockchain is rude to node operators and everyone else that uses Bitcoin as you are taking up block space that could otherwise be used for actual transactions. So yes, you can store data, but you really shouldn't.

That said it all, take an example from LBRY platform, the platforms didn't store the data file(media file) on the blockchain but instead, they store the metadata of the file in the blockchain and store the data file(media file) on every node that has the data. So instead of downloading data from blockchain, the only ask for the metadata and then search every node that has the data to ask for stream it.

[LRPchange]

First of all, transactions are not lines or strings. They are just data in a specific format.

You can store any sequence of bytes (aka any data) that you want in the blockchain. However just because you can does not mean that you should. Storing your data means that thousands of nodes must also store your data, and that is a lot of disk space and computer power that needs to go towards storing your data for eternity. Storing arbitrary data on the blockchain is rude to node operators and everyone else that uses Bitcoin as you are taking up block space that could otherwise be used for actual transactions. So yes, you can store data, but you really shouldn't.

That said it all, take an example from LBRY platform, the platforms didn't store the data file(media file) on the blockchain but instead, they store the metadata of the file in the blockchain and store the data file(media file) on every node that has the data. So instead of downloading data from blockchain, the only ask for the metadata and then search every node that has the data to ask for stream it.

Interesting answers. Many thanks for the share of knowledge.

[Ucy]

Op didn't mention Bitcoin Blockchain. I think he meant other Blockchain for big data storage.  Am also curious to know whether this is possible.

 I guess everyone is waiting for price of data Storage device to come down. Should explain why   YouTube alternative for Blockchain isn't yet in existence? 

[haltingprobability]

Tx fees will become expensive for storing any non-trivial amount of information in the blockchain. Free market FTW.

[vv181]

Op didn't mention Bitcoin Blockchain. I think he meant other Blockchain for big data storage.  Am also curious to know whether this is possible.

The answer is in the first comment. And it not efficient to store big data on a blockchain.

I guess everyone is waiting for the price of data Storage device to come down. Should explain why   YouTube alternative for Blockchain isn't yet in existence? 

Haven't heard siacoin, burstcoin?. And youtube alternatives, you should look into LBRY platform.

[btctousd81]

yes, its possible to store data, people have already done that, stored words, sentences on blockchain.

the term you are looking for is OP_RETURN

but storing image and music files will be expensive, as block size should not increase the set limit., i guess, its 1mb for now.

ref: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/OP_RETURN

ref: https://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/25224/what-is-a-step-by-step-way-to-insert-data-in-op-return

good luck