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Help:FTP

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by GreenC (talk | contribs) at 23:42, 7 May 2025 (→Background). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Help for FTP (File Transfer Protocol) links on English Wikipedia.

Background

FTP links such as ftp:// existed before the invention of the World Wide Web. Prior to the 1990s, it was the ubiquitous method of transferring files between computers over the Internet. As the web gained dominance (http://), FTP was still used by many institutions because of established practice and the cost of changing systems. Nevertheless, FTP has serious shortcomings from a security standpoint. By 2021, most modern web browsers stopped supported the FTP protocol entirely. For most web users clicking a ftp:// now results in a page not found. At the same time many institutions migrated to https://

HTTPS interface

A HTTPS interface (or gateway) is a system in which the FTP server automatically redirects to https:// In this way accessing a ftp:// link from a browser works. Not all FTP servers support an https:// interface.

Pure FTP are ftp:// links that have no interface. They are only accessible with dedicated FTP client software.

Archives

Pure FTP links can not be saved at a web archive like the Wayback Machine or Archive.today.

If the link has or had a HTTPS gateway, it may have been archived with the ftp:// version of the URI - in these cases cite it with {{cite web}}. For the |url= use the https:// version of the link, and for |archive-url= use whatever works, either the ftp:// or https:// version of the archive URL.

To cite FTP, follow these steps:

  1. Check if the FTP has an HTTPS interface. Replace the ftp:// portion with https:// and see if it works. If so, use {{cite web}} or a related template, with |url= set to the https:// version.
  2. If it doesn't work it means one of two things: the FTP link is "pure" and can only be accessed with an FTP client. Or the FTP link is dead.
  3. Using a FTP client check if the link is working. If it is working, cite it with {{Cite FTP}}.
  4. If not working, you have a number of choices: 1. Delete the citation entirely 2. Google around for the same data located elsewhere on the web 3. Log into the FTP site and search for alternative locations within the FTP tree. 4) If all else fails and you still want to retain a non-working FTP link: change it to a {{Cite FTP}} template and add a {{Dead FTP}} following.

FTP client software

See Comparison of FTP client software. Software is available for GUI or command-link, on multiple platforms.

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