FTP (File Transfer Protocol)

FTP, being the oldest of the file transfer protocols supported by WinSCP, is most widespread transfer protocol of nowadays. In its basic form it is inherently insecure, sending all data (including passwords) unencrypted. There is also secure variants (FTP over TLS/SSL). FTP is functionally inferior to SFTP. Also it is less platform independent than later versions of SFTP, mainly in respect to directory listing.