The above diagram shows a simple peer to peer network. Each computer, or node, can talk to any other computer on the network. Each node is a peer which means that no computer has a higher status than another. On a very basic level the computers can copy files to each other and share resources such as printers and the internet.

More complicated peer to peer networks exist over the internet. These can be used to share files using programs such as Kazza or BitTorrent. Also they can be used to take part in distributed processing. This is where a very difficult calculation is split over numerous computers on a network to come up with the answer faster.