What is SFTP, and how do I use it?

SFTP stands for “Secure File Transfer Protocol,” and it is the successor to FTP. It is used to transfer files between computers. SFTP comes installed with Linux and with Mac OS X. You can install SFTP on Windows using PuTTY.

To use SFTP, you can use either a command line interface, or a GUI. For the command line, you’re probably better off using SCP, but to see how to use SFTP, use man sftp.

For the GUI, you have several options, depending on what system you are running. If you are running Windows, you can use the SSHSecureShell program distributed by LTS, or you can use PuTTY, WinSCP, or FileZilla, all of which are free and open source. If you are running Mac OS X, you can use Cyberduck, which is free and very good, or you can use Transmit, which costs money. If you are running Gnome on Linux, you can use the Nautilus file browser (File→Connect to Server…, select SSH from Service Type).