Like telnet, FTP still has a few uses, but has lost prominence on the modern internet largely because of security concerns, with encrypted alternatives taking its place—in the case of FTP, SFTP, a file transfer protocol that operates over the Secure Shell protocol (SSH), the protocol that has largely replaced telnet.

Is FTP Still Used? In short, yes, people are still using FTP sites to send and receive files. However, the original file transfer protocol (FTP) is unencrypted and it’s not a file-sharing solution designed for today’s more advanced security standards or compliance requirements.