Developer(s) Martin Přikryl Written in C++ | Development status Active Operating system | |
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Initial release 2000; 17 years ago (2000) Stable release 5.9.4 (February 15, 2017; 47 days ago (2017-02-15)) [±] |
WinSCP (Windows Secure Copy) is a free and open-source SFTP, FTP, WebDAV and SCP client for Microsoft Windows. Its main function is secure file transfer between a local and a remote computer. Beyond this, WinSCP offers basic file manager and file synchronization functionality. For secure transfers, it uses Secure Shell (SSH) and supports the SCP protocol in addition to SFTP.
Contents
Development of WinSCP started around March 2000 and continues. Originally it was hosted by the University of Economics in Prague, where its author worked at the time. Since July 16, 2003, it is licensed under the GNU GPL and hosted on SourceForge.net.
WinSCP is based on the implementation of the SSH protocol from PuTTY and FTP protocol from FileZilla. It is also available as a plugin for Altap Salamander file manager, and there exists a third-party plugin for the FAR file manager.
Features
WinSCP as a remote editor
WinSCP can act as a remote editor. When the user clicks on a (text) file in the remote file manager, it transfers the file to the local machine and opens it in the integrated editor, where Windows users can feel very much at home. Alternatively, the user may choose local editors based on file extensions. Whenever the document is saved, the remote version is updated automatically.
Portable version
Apart from the standard package, three portable versions are also available: A generic package and two customized versions for LiberKey and Portableapps.com. The portable version runs on Wine in Linux.
Advertisements in installer
Some older versions of the WinSCP installer included OpenCandy advertising module or bundled Google Chrome. Since version 5.5.5 (August 2014) the installer does not contain any advertisement.
WinSCP itself did not and does not contain any advertisements.