A peer-to-peer distributed network architecture is composed of participants that make a portion of their resources (such as processing power, disk storage, and network bandwidth) available directly to their peers without intermediary network hosts or servers.[1] Peers are both suppliers and consumers of resources, in contrast to the traditional client-server model where only servers supply, and clients consume.

Peer-to-peer was popularized by file sharing systems like Napster. Peer-to-peer file sharing networks have inspired new structures and philosophies in other areas of human interaction. In such social contexts, peer-to-peer as a meme refers to the egalitarian social networking that is currently emerging throughout society, enabled by Internet technologies in general.

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