In order to transfer files with FTP you need to have permission to use the remote machine. When FTP establishes a connection, it will ask you for a login name and password combination. Figure 7 Useful FTP Commands. View Figure Machines that hold public domain software and other widely distributed files allow anonymous logins . One of the most important commands is the one that specifies the file transfer mode.
Binary files are things like compiled programs and large data sets.
A file transferred in binary mode is copied verbatim, bit for bit, and duplicated exactly on your system as it appeared on the remote system. Use this mode when you copy an executable program or some other file that your system recognizes. Another example is a compressed file, which is a collection of one or more files that has been run through a data compression algorithm. If you have the program that will decompress the file it makes sense to copy it, otherwise it will be useless to you. FTP knows about the text file formats of common systems and it translates among these formats as it copies a file.