What the hell is FTP?

What the hell is FTP?

This blog post was originally written for LegRoom Agency and was published in September, 2017.

File Transfer Protocol (or FTP), is the standard client-server network protocol used for transferring files between computers (or computers and servers) via a network. It’s actually one of the oldest protocols in use today, dating all the way back to 1971.

The FTP process relies on two communication channels to get things done:

  1. A command channel, used to control the conversation between computers (or the computer and the server, and
  2. A data channel, which is used to control the transmission of files, or content.

At LegRoom, we utilise an FTP client called Transmit when uploading, downloading, modifying or deleting files via the internet – this might be when performing updates to a site, sending a new site live, or taking backup