Differences between FTP and HTTP

Differences between FTP and HTTP

The major difference between FTP and HTTP is that FTP is a two-way system - it can be used to copy or move files from a server to a client computer as well as upload or transfer files from a client to a server. HTTP, on the other hand, is strictly one-way: "transferring" text, pictures and other data (formulated into a web page) from the "server" to a client computer which uses a web browser to view the data.

Another point to bear in mind is that File Transfer in FTP means exactly that: files are automatically copied or moved from a file server to a client computer's hard drive, and vice versa. On the other hand, files in an HTTP transfer are viewed and can 'disappear' when the browser is turned off unless the user executes commands to move the data to the computer's memory.

Another major difference between the two systems lies in the manner in which the data is encoded and transmitted. FTP systems generally encode and transmit their data in binary sets which allow for faster data transfer; HTTP systems encode their data in MIME format which is larger and more complex. Note that when attaching files to emails, the size of the file is usually larger than the original because of the additional encoding involved.