File Uploads
HTTP or FTP
Here are the pros / cons to each:
HTTP (Websites)
Pros
- Can use through website with no special configuration or software
- Works well with small files (8 MB or smaller)
Cons
- Cannot resume file upload
- Changing upload limit sizes requires changing web server configuration
- Uploads may time out, and would have to be restarted
- Web server has a long time out length, so upload could break and user wouldn't know for some time
- Can only upload a few files at a time
- No rate-limiting – the upload uses all available bandwidth
FTP (Software)
Pros
- Works well with large files (8MB and higher, up to gigabytes in size)
- Can setup rate-limiting (how fast a file can be uploaded) so the network is not saturated
- File uploads can be resumed, in case of disconnects or network issues
- Directory support – users can see which files are available, and upload, delete, rename, etc.
Cons
- Requires an FTP server
- Must create an FTP user account
- Client needs to setup FTP software and be familiar with using it
- Little to no web app integration