FileZilla

FileZilla is a free software, cross-platform FTP application, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Client binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and macOS, server binaries are available for Windows only. Both server and client support FTP and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS), while the client can in addition connect to SFTP servers.

FileZilla Client
FileZilla 3.7.3 running under Ubuntu MATE
Developer(s)Tim Kosse
Initial release22 June 2001 (2001-06-22)
Stable release
3.52.2[1] / 18 January 2021 (18 January 2021)
Preview release3.52.0-beta1 (17 December 2020 (2020-12-17)) [±][2]
Repository
Written inC++, wxWidgets
Operating systemCross-platform
Size7.3 MB
Available inMultilingual
TypeFTP client
LicenseGNU General Public License Version 2
Websitefilezilla-project.org

FileZilla's source code is hosted on SourceForge and the project was featured as Project of the Month in November 2003.[3] However, there have been criticisms that SourceForge bundles malicious software with the application.[4]

History

FileZilla was started as a computer science class project in the second week of January 2001 by Tim Kosse and two classmates.[5][6]

Before they started to write the code, they discussed under which license they should release it.[6] They decided to make FileZilla an open-source project because many FTP clients were already available, and they didn't think that they would sell a single copy if they made FileZilla commercial.[6]

Features

These are some features of FileZilla Client:[7]

  • Transfer files using FTP and encrypted FTP such as FTPS (server and client) and SFTP.[8]
  • Support IPv6 which is the latest version of internet protocol
  • Supports resume which means the file transfer process can be paused and continued
  • Ability to overwrite existing files only of the source file is newer
  • Ability to overwrite existing files only if the file size does not match
  • Tabbed user interface for multitasking, to allow browsing more than one server or even transfer files simultaneously between multiple servers.
  • Site Manager to manage server lists and transfer queue for ordering file transfer tasks
  • Bookmarks for easy access to most frequent use
  • Drag and drop to download and upload.
  • Directory comparison for comparing local files and server files in the same directory. When the file doesn't have the same information (name not match, or size not match) it will highlight that file in colour.
  • Configurable transfer speed limits to limit the speed transferring the files, which helps reducing error of transferring
  • Filename filters, users can filter only specific files that have the conditions they want.
  • Network configuration wizard, help configuring confusing network settings in form of step-by-step wizard
  • Remote file editing, for quickly edit file on server side on-the-fly. No need to download, edit on the computer and re-upload back to the server.
  • Keep-alive, if the connection has been idle for the long time it will check by sending keep-alive command.
  • HTTP/1.1, SOCKS5 and FTP-Proxy support
  • Logging to file
  • Ability to export queues (pending, failed, finished) into an XML format file
  • Synchronised directory browsing
  • Remote file search to search file on the server remotely
  • Cross-platform. Runs on Windows, Linux, *BSD, Mac OS X
  • Supports resume and transfer of large files >4GB
  • Secure password storage protected with a master password
  • Available in 47 languages worldwide (Arabic, Armenian, Basque, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Corsican, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, German, Greek, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Icelandic, Italian, Japanese, Georgian, Khmer, Korean, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lithuanian, Latvian, Macedonian, Norwegian, Nepali, Occitan, Persian (Farsi), Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese)

These are some features of FileZilla Server:[9]

  • FTP and FTP over TLS (FTPS)
  • IPv6 support
  • Speed limits
  • Large file support >4GB
  • Remote administration
  • Permissions system with users and groups
  • IP filters

Reception

In May 2008, Chris Foresman assessed FTP clients for Ars Technica, saying of FileZilla: "Some friends in the tech support world often recommend the free and open-source FileZilla, which offers a Mac OS X version in addition to Windows and Linux. But I've never been thrilled about its busy interface, which can be daunting for novice users."[10]

Writing for Ars Technica in August 2008 Emil Protalinski said: "this week's free, third-party application recommendation is FileZilla.... This FTP client is very quick and is regularly updated. It may not have a beautiful GUI, but it certainly is fast and has never let me down."[11]

Go Daddy, Clarion University of Pennsylvania and National Capital FreeNet recommend FileZilla for uploading files to their web hosting services.[12][13][14]

FileZilla is available in the repositories of many Linux distributions, including Debian, Ubuntu, Trisquel and Parabola GNU/Linux-libre.[15][16][17][18]

In January 2012, CNET gave FileZilla their highest rating of "spectacular"—five out of five stars.[19]

Since the project's participation in SourceForge's program to create revenue by adware, several reviewers started warning about downloading FileZilla and discouraged users from using it.[20][21]

Criticism

Bundled adware issues

In 2013 the project's hosting site, SourceForge.net, provided the main download of FileZilla with a download wrapper, "offering" additional software for the user to install. Numerous users reported that some of the adware installed without consent, despite declining all install requests, or used deception to obtain the user's "acceptance" to install. Among the reported effects are: web browser being hijacked, with content, start page and search engines being forcibly changed, popup windows, privacy or spying issues, sudden shutdown and restart events possibly leading to loss of current work. Some of the adware was reported to resist removal or restoration of previous settings, or were said to reinstall after a supposed removal. Also, users reported adware programs to download and install more unwanted software, some causing alerts by security suites, for being malware.[21]

The FileZilla webpage offers additional download options without adware installs, but the link to the adware download appears as the primary link, highlighted and marked as "recommended".[21][22]

As of 2016, FileZilla displays ads (called sponsored updates) when starting the application. These ads appear as part of the "Check for updates" dialog.[23]

In 2018, a further controversy about FileZilla's use of a bundled adware installer caused concern.[24]

Plain text password storage

Until version 3.26 FileZilla stored all saved usernames and passwords as plain text, allowing any malware that had gained even limited access to the user's system to read the data. FileZilla author Tim Kosse was reluctant to add encrypted storage. He stated that it gives a false sense of security, since well-crafted malware can include a keylogger that reads the master password used to secure the data. Users have argued that reading the master password to decrypt the encrypted storage is still harder than just reading the unencrypted storage.[25] A fork called FileZilla Secure was started in November 2016 to add encrypted storage.[26] In May 2017, encrypted storage was also added to the main version, 10 years after it was first requested.[27] Kosse maintained that the feature did not really increase security, as long as the operating system is not secure.[28]

FileZilla Server
FileZilla Server
FileZilla Server main interface
Developer(s)Tim Kosse, et al.
Stable release0.9.60.2 (8 February 2017 (2017-02-08)) [±][29]
Preview releasenone (n/a) [±]
Repository
Written inC++
Operating systemWindows
TypeFTP server
LicenseGPL
Websitefilezilla-project.org

FileZilla Server is a sister product to FileZilla Client. It is an FTP server supported by the same project and features support for FTP and FTP over SSL/TLS.[30] FileZilla Server is currently available only on the Windows platform.

FileZilla Server is a free, open-source FTP server. Its source code is hosted on SourceForge.net.

Features

FileZilla Server supports FTP and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). Other features include:

  • Compression with DEFLATE (MODE Z)
  • Encryption with SSL/TLS (for FTPS)
  • Per-user permissions on the underlying file system
  • GUI configuration tool
  • Speed limits

FileZilla Client issues

Unlike some other FTP clients, FileZilla Client does not implement a workaround for an error in the IIS server which causes file corruption when resuming large file downloads.[31]

Operating system support

FileZilla client:

Operating SystemLatest version supported
Windows 10, 8 and 7Latest
Windows Vista3.25.1 (20-Mar-2017)[32]
Windows XP3.8.0 (25-May-2014)[33]
macOS 10.11 or laterLatest
macOS 10.103.42.1 (8-May-2019)[33]

See also

References
  1. https://filezilla-project.org/.
  2. "FileZilla - Version history". Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  3. "Project of the Month, November 2003: FileZilla". SourceForge. VA Software. 31 October 2003. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
  4. Hoffman, Chris. "Warning: Don't Download Software From SourceForge If You Can Help It [Updated]". How-To Geek.
  5. Orin, Andy (20 August 2015). "Behind the App: The Story of FileZilla". Lifehacker. Archived from the original on 21 August 2015. Retrieved 28 March 2019. Yes, it started as a group project in the computer science course during my final year at school, almost 15 years ago. We were looking for something usable that was neither too trivial nor too big to implement and could be worked upon in parallel. Sadly I don’t remember the details anymore how we eventually settled on an FTP client.
  6. Kosse, Tim. "FileZilla History". SourceForge. DHI Group. Archived from the original on 23 April 2008. Retrieved 4 November 2015.
  7. "FileZilla features". FileZilla project website. FileZilla. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
  8. "Tim Kosse on Filezilla". Blue-GNU. 13 September 2009. Archived from the original on 17 September 2007. Retrieved 29 March 2019. In order to support the SFTP protocol, FileZilla uses code from PuTTY. SSL/TLS support is provided by GnuTLS.
  9. "FileZilla FTP Server - FileZilla Wiki". wiki.filezilla-project.org.
  10. Foresman, Chris (15 May 2008). "First Look: Cyberduck 3 is a great, free FTP client for Mac". Ars Technica. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  11. Protalinski, Emil (1 August 2008). "Friday evening Microsoft links, FileZilla edition". Ars Technica. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  12. "Connecting to Your Hosting Account with FileZilla (FTP)". Go Daddy. 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  13. "Share and Retrieve Files on the Clarion Network ("Jupiter" space)". Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  14. "Publishing Web Pages". National Capital Freenet. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  15. "Package: filezilla (3.9.0.5-1)". Debian. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  16. "filezilla package in Ubuntu". Ubuntu. Canonical Ltd. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  17. "Package: filezilla (3.7.3-1ubuntu1)". Trisquel. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  18. "Parabola/Linux-libre - Package Database". Parabola GNU/Linux-libre. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  19. "FileZilla". Download.com. CBS Interactive. 16 April 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2015.
  20. Taggart, Jean (8 November 2013). "Sourceforge Drives off Downloads, ask why". Blog.Malwarebytes.org. Malwarebytes. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  21. Brinkmann, Martin (17 July 2013). "SourceForge's New Installer Bundles Program Downloads with Adware". Ghacks. Retrieved 16 September 2014.
  22. "Mind the PUP: Top download portals to avoid - Emsisoft - Security Blog". blog.emsisoft.com. Retrieved 8 June 2018.
  23. "FileZilla - Sponsored Updates". filezilla-project.org. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  24. "FileZilla's Use Of Bundled Offers Sparks Outrage From Users". .bleepingcomputer.com. Retrieved 6 January 2019.
  25. "Missing password feature now poses a serious security threat". Filezilla forums. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  26. FileZillaSecure. "FileZilla Secure - Dedicated to keeping your FTP passwords secure". filezillasecure.com. Retrieved 23 November 2016.
  27. Cimpanu, Catalin (26 May 2017). "FileZilla FTP Client Adds Support for Master Password That Encrypts Your Logins". Bleeping Computer. Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  28. "FileZilla 3 development diary". Retrieved 29 May 2017.
  29. "Version history". FileZilla. 8 February 2017. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  30. Trapani, Gina (January 2008). "Build a Home FTP Server with FileZilla". Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  31. FileZilla. "#4672 (Download continues past 100% corrupting downloaded file)". filezilla-project.org. Retrieved 12 September 2016.
  32. "FileZilla - Version history". Retrieved 28 February 2020.
  33. https://filezilla-project.org/versions.php
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