Editing File Transfer Protocol (section)

===Web browser===
For a long time, most common [[web browser]]s were able to retrieve files hosted on FTP servers, although not all of them had support for protocol extensions such as [[FTPS]].<ref name="net+" /><ref name="matthews">{{cite book |last=Matthews |first=J. |year=2005 |title=Computer Networking: Internet Protocols in Action |edition=1st |location=Danvers, MA |publisher=John Wiley & Sons Inc.}}</ref> When an FTP—rather than an HTTP—[[URL]] is supplied, the accessible contents on the remote server are presented in a manner that is similar to that used for other web content. 

Google Chrome removed FTP support entirely in Chrome 88, also affecting other [[Chromium]]-based browsers such as [[Microsoft Edge]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2021/01/linux-release-roundup-chrome-lightworks-more|date=2021-01-26|access-date=2021-01-30|website=omgubuntu.co.uk|title=Linux Release Roundup: GParted, Lightworks, Google Chrome + More|first1=Joey|last1=Sneddon}}</ref> Firefox 88 disabled FTP support by default, with Firefox 90 dropping support entirely.<ref>{{cite web|date=2021-04-19|title=See what's new in Firefox: 88.0 Firefox Release|url=https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/88.0/releasenotes/|access-date=2021-04-20|website=mozilla.org}}</ref><ref name=":0" />

[[FireFTP]] is a discontinued browser extension that was designed as a full-featured FTP client to be run within [[Firefox]], but when Firefox dropped support for FTP the extension developer recommended using [[Waterfox]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=FireFTP - The Free FTP Client for Waterfox |url=https://fireftp.net/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301212656/https://fireftp.net/ |archive-date=2022-03-01 |website=FireFTP.net}}</ref> Some browsers, such as the text-based [[Lynx (web browser)|Lynx]], still support FTP.<ref>{{Cite web |title=URL Schemes Supported in Lynx |url=https://lynx.invisible-island.net/lynx_help/lynx_url_support.html |access-date=2023-07-06 |website=Lynx website}}</ref>

====Syntax====
FTP URL syntax is described in {{IETF RFC|1738}}, taking the form: <code>ftp://[user[:password]@]host[:port]/[url-path]</code> (the bracketed parts are optional).

For example, the URL <nowiki>ftp://public.ftp-servers.example.com/mydirectory/myfile.txt</nowiki> represents the file ''myfile.txt'' from the directory ''mydirectory'' on the server ''public.ftp-servers.example.com'' as an FTP resource. The URL <nowiki>ftp://user001:secretpassword@private.ftp-servers.example.com/mydirectory/myfile.txt</nowiki> adds a specification of the username and password that must be used to access this resource.

More details on specifying a username and password may be found in the browsers' documentation (e.g., [[Firefox]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/Accessing%20FTP%20servers#w_ftp-servers-that-require-a-username-and-password |title=Accessing FTP servers &#124; How to &#124; Firefox Help |publisher=Support.mozilla.com |date=2012-09-05 |access-date=2013-01-16}}</ref> and [[Internet Explorer]]<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/135975 |title=How to Enter FTP Site Password in Internet Explorer |access-date=13 February 2020 |archive-date=2 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702005840/https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/135975 |url-status=dead }} Written for IE versions 6 and earlier. Might work with newer versions.</ref>). By default, most web browsers use passive (PASV) mode, which more easily traverses end-user firewalls.

Some variation has existed in how different browsers treat path resolution in cases where there is a non-root home directory for a user.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://jkorpela.fi/ftpurl.html |title=FTP URLs |author=Jukka “Yucca” Korpela |publisher="IT and communication" (jkorpela.fi) |date=1997-09-18 |access-date=2020-01-26}}</ref>