Collection media
Core mirrors supported artwork, metadata, thumbnails, renders, audio, and video into one shared media system, covering Ordinals, DMT, UNAT, Doginals, Atomicals, Bitcoin Stamps, and other supported families.
Originals and derivatives are different things
Section titled “Originals and derivatives are different things”The exact bytes discovered from a chain or an authoritative Universe index are retained as the original. A thumbnail, compressed SVG, responsive image, poster, waveform, or deterministic render is a derivative.
A derivative never replaces the original. That distinction is what lets Core serve a small image to a card without ever losing the bytes that were actually inscribed.
Content addressing
Section titled “Content addressing”Objects are identified by their SHA-256 content hash. Identical bytes used by different assets or projects share one stored object. Display variants use modern formats and useful sizes, so a card does not download a full-resolution original unnecessarily.
Hashed media is cached immutably. A stable asset identity resolves to the current verified object, so a link to an identity keeps working while a link to a hash always returns the same bytes.
The browser never leaves Core for artwork
Section titled “The browser never leaves Core for artwork”Collection and marketplace pages use Core media routes rather than contacting public artwork hosts from your browser. Visible cards receive useful display sizes first; off-screen cards load as they approach the viewport.
Where the shared media system is enabled, collection cards and market rows use only verified shared-media routes. A missing shared logo, original, or thumbnail stays visibly unavailable: Core does not silently substitute an older collection-cache URL.
A missing derivative may temporarily show an explicit text or loading fallback, but it never authorizes a browser request to an untrusted media origin.
Recursive and deterministic artwork
Section titled “Recursive and deterministic artwork”Recursive and deterministic artwork is archived with its dependencies and render state. An unchanged asset can reuse its verified render instead of fetching or rendering the same content again.
Availability
Section titled “Availability”Ingestion, verification, and derivative generation continue in the background.
Missing, corrupt, or unverified media is reported as unavailable rather than presented as a successful empty response. This is the same rule the rest of the product follows: a read that did not happen is never rendered as a read that found nothing.
Coverage
Section titled “Coverage”Every discovered inscription, UNAT, DMT, stamp, and Atomicals asset is classified as visual, nonvisual, unsupported with a stated reason, or a recorded source failure. Visual assets get right-sized WebP and AVIF derivatives, posters, or waveforms, and cards receive immutable object URLs directly, so a grid paints from one response.
Inscription images and previews are immutable, so they are served with a long-lived immutable cache header and a content fingerprint. A browser that already holds a copy revalidates it without downloading it again, which keeps a gallery of many tiles from competing with ordinary chain reads.