FTP = File Transfer Protocol.

A very common method of exchanging files between two computers connected to Internet. With FTP, you can login to a server and transfer files (meaning you can "send" or "receive" files). Some sites have public file archives that you can access by using FTP with the account name "anonymous" and your e-mail address as the password (see Anonymous FTP).

FTP works in the same way as HTTP for transferring Web pages from a server to a user's browser and SMTP for transferring electronic mail across the Internet in that, like these technologies, FTP uses the Internet's TCP/IP protocols to enable data transfer.

For using FTP you need an FTP client. Macintosh owners, for example, can use a program called Fetch; for Windows there are many good FTP clients (like WS-FTP, CuteFTP and other). Knowing FTP is necessary (and easy) if you want to create your own Web site.