he SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management functionalities over secure connection.((Technically ~bf78cc1a8a74ef527b181366f39ebfcb~ can operate over any reliable data stream, not necessarily a secure one. Though in a significant majority of uses, it operated over a secure SSH protocol. WinSCP in particular does not allow any other use.)) It was designed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as an extension of the Secure Shell protocol (~43f81ba2f8a026198b7cafec37000b25~) version 2.0 to provide secure file transfer capability.((The text is partially copied from  Wikipedia article on [[wp>SSH_File_Transfer_Protocol|SSH File Transfer Protocol]]. The text is licensed under [[wp>Wikipedia:Text_of_the_GNU_Free_Documentation_License|GNU Free Documentation License]].)) 		
		
n its basic functionality the ~7c7c5208b5efbe401785c336c92f4121~ is similar to an old [[ftp|FTP]], while having better designed advanced functionality. Unfortunately not all SFTP server implementations take advantage of the advanced features, yet. 		
		
specially in its later versions (from 4 upwards), the ~a389acd4babf2b43e2b4968e4b140eb3~ protocol is more platform independent, compared to both [[ftp|FTP]] and [[scp|SCP]]. 		
		
nlike SCP, for connection with an ~a8a8e0622cd6e55561fa1b089a9efe76~ server you do not need access to shell (although some implementations may still require that). 		
		
ee also [[sftp_codes|SFTP status/error codes]].