Many programs, such as eMule, MLDonkey and the original eDonkey2000 client by MetaMachine, which introduced the link type, as well as others using the eDonkey file sharing protocol, can be used to manage files stored in the filesharing network.
This linking feature was one of the first URIs to be introduced in peer-to-peer file sharing, and had a vast effect on the development of the eDonkey network, as it allowed external link sites to provide verified content within the network.
An example (a link to the 15 MB Purist Edit trailer) is provided below: eD2k links can also include a reference to the IP address and port of specific clients that are known to share the linked-to file.
This is done by adding a list of sources after the main part of the link, like shown in the following example: On eMule, the link often contains also an AICH top hash |h=H52BRVWPBBTAED5NXQDH2RJDDAKRUWST| to help recover the file in case of corruption during file transfer.
[2] The AICH (Advanced Intelligent Corruption Handling) is an eMule extension.
The smaller block size allows eMule clients to more precisely identifify locations of corruption.