What's the diff between HTTP Download and FTP Download ?

**Richard Cranium** · March 19th, 2002, 06:02 AM

Anyone ?

**ClubMed** · March 19th, 2002, 06:25 AM

A good question, I would be interested in the answer too.

**kendo** · March 19th, 2002, 07:16 AM

HTTP is a stateless protocol. A page or item is requested and sent. There are no means of checking that the package got there in it's entirety or that data packets were not lost along the way.

FTP File Transfer Protocol on the other hand uses two channels, one for data and one for flow control.

Downloading off an FTP site is done in two different methods, ASCII or plain text and BINARY or machine language.

Typically, FTP is faster, and therefore the preferred method.

There is no difference in the quality or content of the HTTP download compared to the FTP option

uhm more or less anyway

**amdkt7** · March 19th, 2002, 11:23 AM

We have been without FTP access here at work for about two years. Sometimes you could get a file if you started very early in the morning, and the rate was very slow. Most of the time it would time out.

All of our complaints did no good, they did not understand our problem, and they sure did not know how to fix it.

It has been working lately, somebody fixed something.

**vass0922** · March 19th, 2002, 11:31 AM

HTTP is a stateless protocol. A page or item is requested and sent. There are no means of checking that the package got there in it's entirety or that data packets were not lost along the way

Umm maybe I'm misunderstanding but if I remember right those have nothing to do with each other...
TCP allows for validation of packet arrival... stateless just means it doesn't track the connection it starts the connection and off ya go...
While UDP (kinda like streaming radio/and typically IM messages) just throws out the packets and hopes you catch them ok...
Am I misunderstanding?!

**Banti** · March 19th, 2002, 11:41 AM

Actually the way I thought it went down was the connectivity.

HTTP connects, requests downloads info, and disconnects.

FTP connects and stays connected until you tell it to disconnect, so multiple requests for info are serviced, therefore once you get a connection to a ftp server you have it until you disconnect.

Banti

**kendo** · March 19th, 2002, 12:13 PM

The World Wide Web, is intrinsically stateless because each request for a new Web page is processed without any knowledge of previous pages requested.

HTTP is called a stateless protocol because each command is executed independently, without any knowledge of the commands that came before it.

**psyklone** · March 19th, 2002, 12:25 PM

http is stateless, but it is not connectionless. udp protocols are connectionless, the machine simply wishes them good luck and best wishes in regards to arriving at the intended destination. http, as with other tcp protocols, relies on the error correction and validation native to tcp so it is very much connection oriented.

ftp over http is relatively common, especially in places where ultra-paranoid or lazy (and sometimes a little of both) firewall administrators don't want to open up any ports other than http and smtp. all you have to do is run ftp over http and you're good to go. in that regard it can be handy, but for that matter it's pretty simple to encapsulate most types of tcp traffic payloads within http to pipe it through firewalls/proxy servers. that's really the only benefit. using straight ftp is much, much better. some will argue that it's not faster, but based on multiple tests (as well as day to day experiences) it is faster. more importantly than that, though, is the fact that ftp supports the 'reget' command for resumed downloads which is something that http doesn't do. since http was designed with the sole purpose of feeding web pages, it's efficient at just that ... sending information in bursts. ftp, although a bit cumbersome between the control and data channels and what they do depending on whether you're doing an active or passive ftp session, does its job well. i think that the resume capabilities built in should leave no doubt that http downloads are pointless unless they are small files.

cheers,

psyklone

**kendo** · March 19th, 2002, 12:33 PM

YAWN

now i understand the confusion

just went back to midshift and i guess i was as clear as mud on that one

**psyklone** · March 19th, 2002, 11:55 PM

midnight shift ... ouch.

**ironforge** · March 20th, 2002, 12:37 AM

While you can easily argue differences in protocols..

Externally.. you don't see a whole lot of difference except for features..

a fully featured FTP program usually has much more to it than just simple download.. ie queued downloads.. auto-resume.. auto-reconnect.. etc..

I enjoy downloading from FTP's much more than off the web (HTTP)

**FalcomPSX** · March 20th, 2002, 01:23 AM

midnight shift...that does hurt.
I sometimes have to work from 9AM to 2AM on inventory days. my stupid company is too freakin cheap to hire more people, they'd rather overwork the ones they have.

**kendo** · March 20th, 2002, 02:02 AM

yeh ftp is the way to go

ouch is right i bounced to days for 8 weeks of serving on the local grand jury and this is my first week back

11p to 10 a but only 3 days a week and really good benefits. i get phone calls from techs instead of users and and and and ......

i get to hang out at TechIMO when at work since techs don't call that often

**newbie~wan** · March 21st, 2002, 10:52 AM

Yeah, I would like that job. I'd like being a nightown, but my classes (early in morning) and my job (also early in morning) dictate that I must fall in line w/ conformity (sleep ~ midnight - 6:30 am).

What nights do you work? As long as its not thursday, friday or saturday, that would be a perfect job when in college.

**EndobioticChaos** · March 21st, 2002, 10:57 AM

Ah... I really didn't know a whole lot about the differences between http and ftp. I just always picked ftp when there was a choice, because it definitely was faster.

**solaris08** · November 23rd, 2008, 11:51 AM

I have searched a lot. But still I cannot find it out why ftp needs two connections. Someone says one for flow control and another for data transfer. What is the advantage of it? In http we can initiate the transfer or send other commands in the same TCP connections. So why ftp uses another connection for it?

What is the benefit of that connection over http?

Please clarify these issues.

**RobRich** · November 23rd, 2008, 12:13 PM

At the rudimentary level, FTP uses one connection for control and another connection for data. Having separate control and data lanes is a pretty common concept for electronics, be it for hardware or software.

As for a benefit, they are simply two different protocols which can be used to transfer a file. HTTP is more robust, but it also about two decades newer than FTP. Remember, FTP was developed back when a PDP-10 was considered cutting-edge technology.