What protocol is used to transfer files over a network?

• A. File Transfer Protocol (FTP)
• B. File Transfer Protocol Secure (FTPS)
• C. Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)
• D. Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP)

Answer: (A)

File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is the protocol designed specifically for moving files between a client and a server over a network. It creates a control channel to send commands (like login, list directories, change directory) and a separate data channel to transfer the actual file contents, which is why it’s well-suited for tasks such as uploading and downloading files in bulk. The main idea is that FTP was built with file transfer in mind, making it the best fit for this question.

FTPS adds security by wrapping FTP in TLS/SSL, but the underlying purpose remains file transfer. HTTP, while capable of transferring files as part of web requests, is primarily a web resource protocol rather than a file-transfer tool. SMTP is for delivering email, not for moving arbitrary files between servers.