<page xmlns="http://projectmallard.org/1.0/"
  type="topic"
  id="onion-services">

<info>
  <desc>Services that are only accessible using Tor</desc>
  <link type="guide" xref="index" group="six" />
</info>

<title>Onion Services</title>
<p>
Onion services (formerly known as “hidden services”) are services (like websites)
that are only accessible through the Tor network.
</p>

<p>
Onion services offer several advantages over ordinary services on the
non-private web:
</p>

<list>
 <item>
  <p>
  An onion services’s location and IP address are hidden, making it difficult
  for adversaries to censor it or identify its operators.
  </p>
 </item>
 <item>
  <p>
  All traffic between Tor users and onion services is end-to-end encrypted,
  so you do not need to worry about <link
  xref='secure-connections'>connecting over HTTPS</link>.
  </p>
 </item>
 <item>
  <p>
  The address of an onion service is automatically generated, so the
  operators do not need to purchase a domain name; the .onion URL also
  helps Tor ensure that it is connecting to the right location and that
  the connection is not being tampered with.
  </p>
 </item>
</list>

<section id="access">
<title>How to access an onion service</title>
<p>
<media type="image" width="600" src="media/onionsites/onion_url.png" />
</p>
<p>
Just like any other website, you will need to know the address of an
onion service in order to connect to it. An onion address is a string of
sixteen mostly random letters and numbers, followed by “.onion”.
</p>
</section>

<section id="troubleshooting">
<title>Troubleshooting</title>
<p>
If you cannot reach the onion service you require, make sure that you have
entered the 16-character onion address correctly: even a small mistake
will stop Tor Browser from being able to reach the site.
</p>
<p>
If you are still unable to connect to the onion service, please try again
later. There may be a temporary connection issue, or the site operators
may have allowed it to go offline without warning.
</p>
<p>
You can also ensure that you're able to access other onion services by
connecting to <link href="http://3g2upl4pq6kufc4m.onion/">DuckDuckGo's Onion
Service</link>
</p>
</section>
</page>