- The address of a file has no relation to the machine hosting it (it's just a hash of the contents). Unlike HTTP and DNS, which rely on machine-specific IP addresses

- I can host files on multiple unreliable machines (e.g. a powerful desktop, a mostly-always-on raspberry pi and a couple of frequently off/disconnected laptops). As long as at least one machine's online, the files are still available. Doing this for HTTP requires some sort of load-balancer (a single point of failure), plus mechanisms for discovery, authentication, etc.

- Since IPFS uses a content hash, all copies of a file will get served from the same address; hence anyone with a copy of a file can bring its address back to life. With HTTP, people can host their own copies of files that get taken down or disappear; but their copy's address will be different from the original, and hence all hyperlinks to the original will remain broken. (Note that it's not perfect, since IPFS can perform hashing in a few ways, e.g. to better support streaming; and that results in different addresses)

This is really useful for stuff like git repos, software packages, etc.