What Does Simple File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) Mean?

Simple file transfer protocol (SFTP) is an unsecured, lightweight version of File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which runs on Transmission Control Protocol port number 115. It has some useful features not present in Trivial FTP (TFTP), but is not as powerful as FTP.

Techopedia Explains Simple File Transfer Protocol (SFTP)

SFTP supports three types of data transmission:

  • American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII): ASCII bytes are generally taken from the source system file and transferred over the connection and stored in a destination system file. Binary: The 8-bit bytes are taken from the file in the source system, transferred over the connection and stored in a destination system file.Continuous: The bits are taken from the source system file, transferred through the connection packed into 8-bit bytes ignoring word boundaries. The bits are received by the destination system in a continuous fashion, with no word boundaries.