--- title: "FTP vs SFTP: understanding these two meanings" description: "FTP or SFTP or maybe FTPS, HTTPS … As you see, there are so many options for a file transfer that it can be sometimes very difficult to answer the que" author: "Peter Norton" published: 2019-04-25 updated: 2019-09-07 canonical: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/54986/ftp-vs-sftp-understanding-these-two-meanings category: "internet" tags: ["mac os x"] reading_time: 1 minute --- # FTP vs SFTP: understanding these two meanings FTP is a popular [file transfer](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/109023/how-to-troubleshoot-a-slow-file-transfer) method that is being used [everywhere](https://yourviews.mindstick.com/audio/1305/why-sanatan-dharma-teaches-that-god-is-everywhere) and has not changed so much since its invention in 1971. However, at that time, it was not generally assumed that the Internet [activity](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/12894/how-to-force-recreation-of-activity-fragment-on-restore) would actively be targeted at hacking, so FTP was not created with the features to deal with such a [cyber security](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/44595/the-union-cabinet-recently-approved-an-mou-signed-in-the-field-of-cyber-security-the-mou-was-signed-with-which-country) threat that we now see in the [news](https://www.mindstick.com/developersection/news) every day. ![FTP vs SFTP: understanding these two meanings](https://www.mindstick.com/mindstickarticle/27ee8193-cf4c-4d94-8e9b-3e9a005fd74b/images/e852a709-1f56-4990-a2bb-7d9a49c00c3a.jpeg)\ The File Transfer [Protocol](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/116080/which-osi-layer-does-the-arp-address-resolution-protocol-function-in) or also [known as](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/31993/who-is-popularly-known-as-iron-man-of-india) FTP is designed to organize the exchange of data between [your PC](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/94990/how-do-i-solve-this-error-in-windows-10-pro-there-was-a-problem-resetting-your-pc) and the server. This process is similar to the one when the user copies information from [one folder](https://www.mindstick.com/forum/159900/how-can-i-copy-one-file-from-one-folder-to-another-within-an-azure-fileshare-using-c-sharp) to another. Using FTP, you get access to the [disk space](https://answers.mindstick.com/qa/109058/why-does-my-computer-keep-showing-low-disk-space) that is allocated by the host. Read more --- Original Source: https://www.mindstick.com/articles/54986/ftp-vs-sftp-understanding-these-two-meanings Copyright © MindStick Software Pvt. Ltd. This Markdown version is provided for developers, AI systems, and offline reading.