---
title: "FTP"
description: "Rclone docs for FTP backend"
---

# {{< icon "fa fa-file" >}} FTP

FTP is the File Transfer Protocol. Rclone FTP support is provided using the
[github.com/jlaffaye/ftp](https://godoc.org/github.com/jlaffaye/ftp)
package.

[Limitations of Rclone's FTP backend](#limitations)

Paths are specified as `remote:path`. If the path does not begin with
a `/` it is relative to the home directory of the user.  An empty path
`remote:` refers to the user's home directory.

## Configuration

To create an FTP configuration named `remote`, run

    rclone config

Rclone config guides you through an interactive setup process. A minimal
rclone FTP remote definition only requires host, username and password.
For an anonymous FTP server, use `anonymous` as username and your email
address as password.

```
No remotes found - make a new one
n) New remote
r) Rename remote
c) Copy remote
s) Set configuration password
q) Quit config
n/r/c/s/q> n
name> remote
Type of storage to configure.
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
[snip]
XX / FTP Connection
   \ "ftp"
[snip]
Storage> ftp
** See help for ftp backend at: https://rclone.org/ftp/ **

FTP host to connect to
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
Choose a number from below, or type in your own value
 1 / Connect to ftp.example.com
   \ "ftp.example.com"
host> ftp.example.com
FTP username, leave blank for current username, $USER
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
user> 
FTP port, leave blank to use default (21)
Enter a string value. Press Enter for the default ("").
port> 
FTP password
y) Yes type in my own password
g) Generate random password
y/g> y
Enter the password:
password:
Confirm the password:
password:
Use FTP over TLS (Implicit)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
tls> 
Use FTP over TLS (Explicit)
Enter a boolean value (true or false). Press Enter for the default ("false").
explicit_tls> 
Remote config
--------------------
[remote]
type = ftp
host = ftp.example.com
pass = *** ENCRYPTED ***
--------------------
y) Yes this is OK
e) Edit this remote
d) Delete this remote
y/e/d> y
```

To see all directories in the home directory of `remote`

    rclone lsd remote:

Make a new directory

    rclone mkdir remote:path/to/directory

List the contents of a directory

    rclone ls remote:path/to/directory

Sync `/home/local/directory` to the remote directory, deleting any
excess files in the directory.

    rclone sync -i /home/local/directory remote:directory

### Example without a config file ###

    rclone lsf :ftp: --ftp-host=speedtest.tele2.net --ftp-user=anonymous --ftp-pass=`rclone obscure dummy`

### Implicit TLS ###

Rlone FTP supports implicit FTP over TLS servers (FTPS). This has to
be enabled in the FTP backend config for the remote, or with
[`--ftp-tls`](#ftp-tls). The default FTPS port is `990`, not `21` and
can be set with [`--ftp-port`](#ftp-port).

### Restricted filename characters

In addition to the [default restricted characters set](/overview/#restricted-characters)
the following characters are also replaced:

File names cannot end with the following characters. Repacement is
limited to the last character in a file name:

| Character | Value | Replacement |
| --------- |:-----:|:-----------:|
| SP        | 0x20  | ␠           |

Not all FTP servers can have all characters in file names, for example:

| FTP Server| Forbidden characters |
| --------- |:--------------------:|
| proftpd   | `*`                  |
| pureftpd  | `\ [ ]`              |

This backend's interactive configuration wizard provides a selection of
sensible encoding settings for major FTP servers: ProFTPd, PureFTPd, VsFTPd.
Just hit a selection number when prompted.

{{< rem autogenerated options start" - DO NOT EDIT - instead edit fs.RegInfo in backend/ftp/ftp.go then run make backenddocs" >}}
### Standard Options

Here are the standard options specific to ftp (FTP Connection).

#### --ftp-host

FTP host to connect to

- Config:      host
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_HOST
- Type:        string
- Default:     ""
- Examples:
    - "ftp.example.com"
        - Connect to ftp.example.com

#### --ftp-user

FTP username, leave blank for current username, $USER

- Config:      user
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_USER
- Type:        string
- Default:     ""

#### --ftp-port

FTP port, leave blank to use default (21)

- Config:      port
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_PORT
- Type:        string
- Default:     ""

#### --ftp-pass

FTP password

**NB** Input to this must be obscured - see [rclone obscure](/commands/rclone_obscure/).

- Config:      pass
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_PASS
- Type:        string
- Default:     ""

#### --ftp-tls

Use Implicit FTPS (FTP over TLS)
When using implicit FTP over TLS the client connects using TLS
right from the start which breaks compatibility with
non-TLS-aware servers. This is usually served over port 990 rather
than port 21. Cannot be used in combination with explicit FTP.

- Config:      tls
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_TLS
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

#### --ftp-explicit-tls

Use Explicit FTPS (FTP over TLS)
When using explicit FTP over TLS the client explicitly requests
security from the server in order to upgrade a plain text connection
to an encrypted one. Cannot be used in combination with implicit FTP.

- Config:      explicit_tls
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_EXPLICIT_TLS
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

### Advanced Options

Here are the advanced options specific to ftp (FTP Connection).

#### --ftp-concurrency

Maximum number of FTP simultaneous connections, 0 for unlimited

- Config:      concurrency
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_CONCURRENCY
- Type:        int
- Default:     0

#### --ftp-no-check-certificate

Do not verify the TLS certificate of the server

- Config:      no_check_certificate
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_NO_CHECK_CERTIFICATE
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

#### --ftp-disable-epsv

Disable using EPSV even if server advertises support

- Config:      disable_epsv
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_DISABLE_EPSV
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

#### --ftp-disable-mlsd

Disable using MLSD even if server advertises support

- Config:      disable_mlsd
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_DISABLE_MLSD
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

#### --ftp-writing-mdtm

Use MDTM to set modification time (VsFtpd quirk)

- Config:      writing_mdtm
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_WRITING_MDTM
- Type:        bool
- Default:     false

#### --ftp-idle-timeout

Max time before closing idle connections

If no connections have been returned to the connection pool in the time
given, rclone will empty the connection pool.

Set to 0 to keep connections indefinitely.


- Config:      idle_timeout
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_IDLE_TIMEOUT
- Type:        Duration
- Default:     1m0s

#### --ftp-close-timeout

Maximum time to wait for a response to close.

- Config:      close_timeout
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_CLOSE_TIMEOUT
- Type:        Duration
- Default:     1m0s

#### --ftp-encoding

This sets the encoding for the backend.

See: the [encoding section in the overview](/overview/#encoding) for more info.

- Config:      encoding
- Env Var:     RCLONE_FTP_ENCODING
- Type:        MultiEncoder
- Default:     Slash,Del,Ctl,RightSpace,Dot
- Examples:
    - "Asterisk,Ctl,Dot,Slash"
        - ProFTPd can't handle '*' in file names
    - "BackSlash,Ctl,Del,Dot,RightSpace,Slash,SquareBracket"
        - PureFTPd can't handle '[]' or '*' in file names
    - "Ctl,LeftPeriod,Slash"
        - VsFTPd can't handle file names starting with dot

{{< rem autogenerated options stop >}}

## Limitations

FTP servers acting as rclone remotes must support `passive` mode.
The mode cannot be configured as `passive` is the only supported one.
Rclone's FTP implementation is not compatible with `active` mode
as [the library it uses doesn't support it](https://github.com/jlaffaye/ftp/issues/29).
This will likely never be supported due to security concerns.

Rclone's FTP backend does not support any checksums but can compare
file sizes.

`rclone about` is not supported by the FTP backend. Backends without
this capability cannot determine free space for an rclone mount or
use policy `mfs` (most free space) as a member of an rclone union
remote.

See [List of backends that do not support rclone about](https://rclone.org/overview/#optional-features)
See [rclone about](https://rclone.org/commands/rclone_about/)

The implementation of : `--dump headers`,
`--dump bodies`, `--dump auth` for debugging isn't the same as
for rclone HTTP based backends - it has less fine grained control.

`--timeout` isn't supported (but `--contimeout` is).

`--bind` isn't supported.

Rclone's FTP backend could support server-side move but does not
at present.

The `ftp_proxy` environment variable is not currently supported.

#### Modified time

File modification time (timestamps) is supported to 1 second resolution
for major FTP servers: ProFTPd, PureFTPd, VsFTPd, and FileZilla FTP server.
The `VsFTPd` server has non-standard implementation of time related protocol
commands and needs a special configuration setting: `writing_mdtm = true`.

Support for precise file time with other FTP servers varies depending on what
protocol extensions they advertise. If all the `MLSD`, `MDTM` and `MFTM`
extensions are present, rclone will use them together to provide precise time.
Otherwise the times you see on the FTP server through rclone are those of the
last file upload.

You can use the following command to check whether rclone can use precise time
with your FTP server: `rclone backend features your_ftp_remote:` (the trailing
colon is important). Look for the number in the line tagged by `Precision`
designating the remote time precision expressed as nanoseconds. A value of
`1000000000` means that file time precision of 1 second is available.
A value of `3153600000000000000` (or another large number) means "unsupported".