he SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management functionalities over secure connection.((Technically ~2c3edc5dfa31703f7ad08ec753f75543~ 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 (~dc580b03548e7979274f89264505e726~) 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 ~f836e0ccf1559616add425f3fdf8098a~ 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 ~f0b90579d4d5f9ca167f5db26c332e56~ protocol is more platform independent, compared to both [[ftp|FTP]] and [[scp|SCP]]. 		
		
nlike SCP, for connection with an ~0599112d806415dc53b5b734f8e37df3~ server you do not need access to shell (although some implementations may still require that). 		
		
ee also [[sftp_codes|SFTP status/error codes]].