Uploading refers to ''transmitting''

data In the pursuit of knowledge, data (; ) is a collection of discrete Value_(semiotics), values that convey information, describing quantity, qualitative property, quality, fact, statistics, other basic units of meaning, or simply sequences of sy ...

from one

computer system A computer is a machine that can be programmed to carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ( computation) automatically. Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as programs. These prog ...

to another through means of a

network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

. Common methods of uploading include: uploading via

web browsers A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's screen. Browsers are used on ...

FTP The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

clients], and computer terminal, terminals (

SCP SCP may refer to: Organizations Political parties * Soviet Communist Party, the leading political party in the former Soviet Union * Syrian Communist Party * Sudanese Communist Party * Scottish Christian Party Companies * Seattle Computer Produ ...

/ SFTP). Uploading can be used in the context of (potentially many) clients that send files to a central

server Server may refer to: Computing *Server (computing), a computer program or a device that provides functionality for other programs or devices, called clients Role * Waiting staff, those who work at a restaurant or a bar attending customers and su ...

. While uploading can also be defined in the context of sending files between

distributed Distribution may refer to: Mathematics *Distribution (mathematics), generalized functions used to formulate solutions of partial differential equations *Probability distribution, the probability of a particular value or value range of a varia ...

clients, such as with a

peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network. They are said to form a peer-to-peer ...

(P2P) file-sharing

protocol Protocol may refer to: Sociology and politics * Protocol (politics), a formal agreement between nation states * Protocol (diplomacy), the etiquette of diplomacy and affairs of state * Etiquette, a code of personal behavior Science and technolog ...

like BitTorrent, the term

file sharing File sharing is the practice of distributing or providing access to digital media, such as computer programs, multimedia (audio, images and video), documents or electronic books. Common methods of storage, transmission and dispersion include r ...

is more often used in this case. Moving files within a computer system, as opposed to over a network, is called file copying. Uploading directly contrasts with

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

ing, where data is ''received'' over a network. In the case of users uploading files over the

internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, uploading is often slower than downloading as many internet service providers (ISPs) offer asymmetric connections, which offer more network

bandwidth Bandwidth commonly refers to: * Bandwidth (signal processing) or ''analog bandwidth'', ''frequency bandwidth'', or ''radio bandwidth'', a measure of the width of a frequency range * Bandwidth (computing), the rate of data transfer, bit rate or thr ...

for downloading than uploading.

Definition

To transfer something (such as data or files), from a computer or other digital device to the

memory Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered ...

of another device (such as a larger or remote computer) especially via the internet.

Historical development

Remote

first came into fruition in January 1978, when

Ward Christensen Ward Christensen (born 1945 in West Bend, Wisconsin, United States) is the co-founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system (BBS) ever brought online. Christensen, along with partner Randy Suess, members of the Chicago Area ...

and

Randy Suess Randy John Suess (January 27, 1945 – December 10, 2019) was the co-founder of the CBBS bulletin board, the first bulletin board system (BBS) ever brought online. Suess, along with partner Ward Christensen, whom he met when they were both members ...

, who were members of the Chicago Area Computer Hobbyists' Exchange (CACHE), created the Computerized Bulletin Board System (CBBS). This used an early file transfer protocol (MODEM, later XMODEM) to send binary files via a hardware

modem A modulator-demodulator or modem is a computer hardware device that converts data from a digital format into a format suitable for an analog transmission medium such as telephone or radio. A modem transmits data by Modulation#Digital modulati ...

, accessible by another modem via a

telephone number A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices f ...

. In the following years, new protocols such as Kermit were released, until the

File Transfer Protocol The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and dat ...

(FTP) was standardized 1985 (). FTP is based on

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

and gave rise to many

FTP clients The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of File Transfer Protocol (FTP) client–server model, clients. Unless otherwise specified in footnotes, comparisons are based on the stable versions without any add-ons, ...

, which, in turn, gave users all around the world access to the same standard

network protocol A communication protocol is a system of rules that allows two or more entities of a communications system to transmit information via any kind of variation of a physical quantity. The protocol defines the rules, syntax, semantics and synchroniza ...

to transfer data between devices. The transfer of data saw a significant increase in popularity after the release of the

World Wide Web The World Wide Web (WWW), commonly known as the Web, is an information system enabling documents and other web resources to be accessed over the Internet. Documents and downloadable media are made available to the network through web ...

in 1991, which, for the first time, allowed users who were not computer hobbyists to easily share files, directly from their web browser over

HTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is an application layer protocol in the Internet protocol suite model for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide We ...

Resumability of file transfers

Transfers became more reliable with the launch of HTTP/1.1 in 1997 (), which gave users the option to resume downloads that were interrupted, for instance due to unreliable connections. Before web browsers widely rolled out support, software programs like GetRight could be used to resume downloads. Resuming uploads is not currently supported by HTTP, but can be added with the

Tus open protocol for resumable file uploads Tus or TUS may refer to: * Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences * Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor * Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code Education * Technological Univers ...

, which layers resumability of uploads on top of existing HTTP connections.

Types of uploading

Client-to-server uploading

Transmitting a local file to a remote system following the

client–server model The client–server model is a distributed application structure that partitions tasks or workloads between the providers of a resource or service, called servers, and service requesters, called clients. Often clients and servers communicate ove ...

, e.g., a web browser transferring a video to a website, is called client-to-server uploading.

Remote uploading

Transferring data from one remote system to another remote system under the control of a local system is called remote uploading or site-to-site transferring. This is used when a local computer has a slow connection to the remote systems, but these systems have a fast connection between them. Without remote uploading functionality, the data would have to first be downloaded to the local system and then uploaded to the remote server, both times over a slower connection. Remote uploading is used by some online file hosting services. Another example can be found in FTP clients, which often support the

File eXchange Protocol File eXchange Protocol (FXP or FXSP) is a method of data transfer which uses FTP to transfer data from one remote server to another ( inter-server) without routing this data through the client's connection. Conventional FTP involves a single ser ...

(FXP) in order to instruct two

FTP servers The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is a standard communication protocol used for the transfer of computer files from a server to a client on a computer network. FTP is built on a client–server model architecture using separate control and data ...

with high-speed connections to exchange files. A web-based example is the Uppy file uploader that can transfer files from a user's cloud storage such as

Dropbox Dropbox is a file hosting service operated by the American company Dropbox, Inc., headquartered in San Francisco, California, U.S. that offers cloud storage, file synchronization, personal cloud, and client software. Dropbox was founded in 2007 ...

, directly to a website without first going to the user's device.

Peer-to-peer

Peer-to-peer (P2P) is a

decentralized Decentralization or decentralisation is the process by which the activities of an organization, particularly those regarding planning and decision making, are distributed or delegated away from a central, authoritative location or group. Conce ...

communications model in which each party has the same capabilities, and either party can initiate a communication session. Unlike the client–server model, in which the client makes a service request and the server fulfils the request (by sending or accepting a file transfer), the

P2P P2P may refer to: * Pay to play, where money is exchanged for services * Peer-to-peer, a distributed application architecture in computing or networking ** List of P2P protocols * Phenylacetone, an organic compound commonly known as P2P * Poin ...

network model allows each

node In general, a node is a localized swelling (a "knot") or a point of intersection (a vertex). Node may refer to: In mathematics * Vertex (graph theory), a vertex in a mathematical graph *Vertex (geometry), a point where two or more curves, lines ...

to function as both client and server. BitTorrent is an example of this, as is the

InterPlanetary File System The InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) is a protocol, hypermedia and file sharing peer-to-peer network for storing and sharing data in a distributed file system. IPFS uses content-addressing to uniquely identify each file in a global namespace ...

(IPFS). Peer-to-peer allows users to both ''receive'' (download) and ''host'' (upload) content. Files are transferred directly between the users' computers. The same file transfer constitutes an upload for one party, and a download for the other party.

Copyright issues

The rising popularity of file sharing during the 1990s culminated in the emergence of Napster, a music-sharing

platform Platform may refer to: Technology * Computing platform, a framework on which applications may be run * Platform game, a genre of video games * Car platform, a set of components shared by several vehicle models * Weapons platform, a system or ...

specialized in

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

files that used peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing technology to allow users exchange files freely. The P2P nature meant there was no central gatekeeper for the content, which eventually led to the widespread availability of

copyrighted A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...

material through Napster. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) took notice of Napster's ability to distribute copyrighted music among its user base, and, on December 6, 1999, filed a

motion In physics, motion is the phenomenon in which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed and frame of reference to an observer and m ...

for a preliminary injunction in order to stop the exchange of copyrighted songs on the service. After a failed appeal by Napster, the injunction was granted on March 5, 2001. On September 24, 2001, Napster, which had already shut down its entire network two months earlier, agreed to pay a $26 million dollar settlement. After Napster had ceased operations, many other P2P file-sharing services followed in its wake, such as

Limewire LimeWire was a free peer-to-peer file sharing client for Windows, MacOS, Linux and Solaris. Created by Mark Gorton in 2000, it was most prominently a tool used for the download and distribution of pirated materials, particularly pirated mus ...

, Kazaa and

Popcorn Time Popcorn Time is a multi-platform, free software BitTorrent client that includes an integrated media player. The application provides a piracy-based alternative to subscription-based video streaming services such as Netflix. Popcorn Time us ...

. Besides software programs, there were many BitTorrent websites that allowed files to be indexed and searched. These files could then be downloaded via a

BitTorrent client The following is a general comparison of BitTorrent clients, which are computer programs designed for peer-to-peer file sharing using the BitTorrent protocol. The BitTorrent protocol coordinates segmented file transfer among peers connected ...

. While the BitTorrent protocol itself is legal and agnostic of the type of content shared, many of the services that did not enforce a strict policy to take down copyrighted material would eventually also run into legal difficulties.

References

External links

{{commons category, SVG upload icons
An All Too-Brief History of File Sharing
Computer networking Data transmission Network file transfer protocols Servers (computing)