An FTP client uses the FTP protocol to connect to an FTP server to transfer files.
Basic FTP clients come with many operating systems, including DOS, Linux and Unix. However, many enhanced clients are available typically as shareware for Windows and as freeware for Unix-like systerms. Many modern web browsers have built-in FTP clients as well.
Some operating systems including newer versions of Windows and Mac OS X can mount FTP servers as virtual drives directly within the operating system, which may be easier or more convenient for some users than using a specialized client.
Common interative command-line FTP clients include:
GUI clients for various operating systems include:
Additionally, sftp tunnels the FTP protocol over ssh for a much more secure session. Wget is a command-line utility that can download via FTP non-interactively.