What does "FTP" stand for?

“What does FTP stand for?” — FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. It is a standard networking protocol for transferring files between a client and a server over a TCP/IP network.

FTP was specified in the early days of the internet, with its original specification published in 1971 by Abhay Bhushan. Unlike many simpler protocols, FTP normally uses separate connections for commands and file data. The control connection commonly uses port 21, while traditional active-mode data transfers use port 20.

FTP is not the same as SFTP. Plain FTP sends credentials and data without encryption, while SFTP is a different file-transfer system that runs over SSH. FTPS is another alternative: it adds TLS encryption to FTP. These distinctions matter because modern browsers have largely dropped built-in FTP support in favor of safer methods.

The word “Transfer” is sometimes incorrectly replaced by “Transport” or “Transmission.” Those sound plausible, but the established expansion is File Transfer Protocol.