FTP ASCII File List

FTP file types and extensions to be uploaded in ASCII mode. When FTP uploading or publishing files to the internet they need to be transferred in the correct mode to display properly. ASCII (pronounced Ask-ee) stands for American Standard Code for Information Interchange. ASCII files are plain text files usually created in a basic text editor like Notepad or Simpletext.

ASCII mode transfers each text character as an exact duplicate of the original file. Binary transfer mode is required for any images. In Binary mode the image file is translated to appear on the server as it does locally. Most FTP File Transfer Protocol programs such as WsFTP, FileZilla and SmartFTP allow you to set an ASCII file extensions list. You can then turn ‘Auto’ on and the program will switch between ASCII and Binary modes ensuring each file in a group of files is uploaded in the correct format or mode according to their extension.

Any “Dotfiles” not on our list where the filename begins with a dot eg: .htaccess should also be uploaded in ASCII mode no matter which FTP client you are using. The following is a list of file extensions appearing in alphabetical order that should be uploaded by FTP in ASCII mode.

  • .ajx
  • .am
  • .asa
  • .asc
  • .asp
  • .aspx
  • .awk
  • .bat
  • .c
  • .cdf
  • .cf
  • .cfg
  • .cfm
  • .cgi
  • .cnf
  • .conf
  • .cpp
  • .css
  • .csv
  • .ctl
  • .dat
  • .dhtml
  • .diz
  • .file
  • .forward
  • .grp
  • .h
  • .hpp
  • .hqx
  • .hta
  • .htaccess
  • .htc
  • .htm
  • .html
  • .htpasswd
  • .htt
  • .htx
  • .in
  • .inc
  • .info
  • .ini
  • .ink
  • .java
  • .js
  • .jsp
  • .log
  • .logfile
  • .m3u
  • .m4
  • .m4a
  • .mak
  • .map
  • .model
  • .msg
  • .nfo
  • .nsi
  • .info
  • .old
  • .pas
  • .patch
  • .perl
  • .php
  • .php2
  • .php3
  • .php4
  • .php5
  • .php6
  • .phtml
  • .pix
  • .pl
  • .pm
  • .po
  • .pwd
  • .py
  • .qmail
  • .rb
  • .rbl
  • .rbw
  • .readme
  • .reg
  • .rss
  • .rtf
  • .ruby
  • .session
  • .setup
  • .sh
  • .shtm
  • .shtml
  • .sql
  • .ssh
  • .stm
  • .style
  • .svg
  • .tcl
  • .text
  • .threads
  • .tmpl
  • .tpl
  • .txt
  • .ubb
  • .vbs
  • .xhtml
  • .xml
  • .xrc
  • .xsl

FTP ASCII File List complied by
Graham Streets
MSC Founder

6 thoughts on “FTP ASCII File List

  1. Few notes:
    .doc is binary container, not a text file.
    .dll – binary executable
    Both must be transfered as binary, not ASCII.

  2. Likewise – XLS in binary.
    There are few others extensions that are used for both binary and text files – sometimes depend on OS, but not this simple for all of them..

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  5. A few more extension that should notmally be done in ASCII:

    “.cc” is a frequent, if non standard, extension for C++ files.
    “.hh” is even rarer extension for C++ header files.
    “.pc” is the Oracle variant of C++ (Pro-C).

    Oddly, I have seen the case sensitive “.C” and “.H” for C++ as well. :)
    But those are even rarer than the “.cc” and “.hh”.

    -Jesse

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