What does 'P2P' stand for in file sharing?

What does “P2P” stand for in file sharing? It stands for peer-to-peer. In a peer-to-peer network, participating computers—called peers—can both request and supply data, rather than relying entirely on one central server.

This design became widely known through Napster, launched in 1999, which helped users find music stored on one another’s computers. Later systems such as Gnutella and BitTorrent made file distribution more decentralized. BitTorrent, released in 2001, divides files into pieces so a client can download different pieces from multiple peers while also uploading pieces to others.

P2P does not mean that every system is completely server-free. Trackers, indexes, search services, or coordination servers may still be involved. “Person-to-person” sounds plausible but is not the standard expansion, and “point-to-point” describes a direct communication link more generally, not the file-sharing architecture.