ftputil
High-level FTP client library (virtual file system and more)
Decision gist · record as of 2026-08-14
Yes. ftputil is production-stable, actively maintained, has no external dependencies, and solves a real problem—making FTP access Pythonic and filesystem-like. It's well-suited for automation, scripting, and integration tasks. Install it if you need reliable, high-level FTP access in Python.AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page — verify before relying
Before you install
- Requires Python 3.6 or later; FTP server credentials and network access needed.
- Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies and low friction.
- The package is actively maintained with a recent release, and classifiers indicate production-stable status.
License · maintenance · safety
BSD-3-Clause (permissive) — ftputil is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, a permissive open-source license that allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, requiring only preservation of copyright and license notices.
last release 2026-04-25 (111 days)
0 known vulnerabilities (OSV.dev, 2026-08-14) · 631,682 downloads/mo, #5,658 on PyPI
Alternatives
Verify before relying
pip install ftputil
import ftputil
with ftputil.FTPHost('ftp.example.com', 'user', 'password') as host:
host.download('remote_file.txt', 'local_file.txt')- Whether the package handles implicit vs. explicit FTP security modes (FTPS/TLS) beyond what the description states.
- Performance characteristics when working with large files or high-latency connections.
- Specific timezone handling behavior mentioned in the description.
What it is and what it does
ftputil is a Python FTP client library that abstracts away low-level FTP protocol details by presenting remote FTP servers as a virtual file system. Instead of working directly with FTP commands, you interact with file-like objects and use familiar functions from Python's os and shutil modules to read, write, upload, and download files on remote servers.
The library is designed for developers and system administrators who need reliable, high-level access to FTP resources. It handles common tasks like conditional uploads and downloads and manages timezone differences between local and remote systems. With no external runtime dependencies, it installs cleanly and works across Python 3.6 and later on any operating system.
Use it for
- Automating bulk file transfers to and from FTP servers using os-like syntax instead of raw FTP commands.
- Building backup or synchronization tools that treat remote FTP directories as local filesystem paths.
- Implementing conditional file uploads or downloads based on file metadata or timestamps across timezones.
- Writing system administration scripts that need to manage files on legacy FTP-only infrastructure.
- Integrating FTP file operations into Python applications without managing connection state manually.
Worth the install?
AI-flagged interpretation of the facts on this page. Verify before relying on it.
Yes.
ftputil is production-stable, actively maintained, has no external dependencies, and solves a real problem—making FTP access Pythonic and filesystem-like. It's well-suited for automation, scripting, and integration tasks. Install it if you need reliable, high-level FTP access in Python.
Install
ftputil on PyPI
Before you install
Installation is straightforward with no runtime dependencies and low friction. The package is actively maintained with a recent release, and classifiers indicate production-stable status.
Requires Python 3.6 or later; FTP server credentials and network access needed.
License in practice
ftputil is licensed under BSD-3-Clause, a permissive open-source license that allows commercial and private use with minimal restrictions, requiring only preservation of copyright and license notices.
Quickstart
pip install ftputil
import ftputil
with ftputil.FTPHost('ftp.example.com', 'user', 'password') as host:
host.download('remote_file.txt', 'local_file.txt')Verify before relying
- Whether the package handles implicit vs. explicit FTP security modes (FTPS/TLS) beyond what the description states.
- Performance characteristics when working with large files or high-latency connections.
- Specific timezone handling behavior mentioned in the description.
Package facts
| License | BSD-3-Clause permissive |
| Python support | Supports the current Python release >=3.6 |
| Install friction | Low. Pure-Python wheel |
| Runtime dependencies | None |
| Maintenance | Actively maintained 111 days since the last release |
| First released | |
| Downloads | 631,682 / month, #5,658 on PyPI 30-day window, as of 2026-08-14 |
| Known vulnerabilities | None known OSV.dev, checked 2026-08-14 |
| Classifiers | Development Status :: 5 - Production/StableEnvironment :: Other EnvironmentIntended Audience :: DevelopersIntended Audience :: System AdministratorsOperating System :: OS IndependentProgramming Language :: PythonProgramming Language :: Python :: 3 :: OnlyTopic :: Internet :: File Transfer Protocol (FTP)Topic :: Software Development :: Libraries :: Python ModulesTopic :: System :: Filesystems |
Evidence: ftputil-5.2.0-py3-none-any.whl
Tags
Let your AI agent find packages like this
Example. Real query, live index.
You found this page by searching. An agent finds it by wishing: SkillFed indexes 14,416 PyPI packages by what they can do, searchable in plain language.
wish › “ftp client library python”
- ftputilftputil provides a high-level FTP client library that wraps FTP…
- aioftpaioftp provides an async FTP client and server implementation for…
- pytest-localftpserverProvides pytest fixtures for running local FTP and TLS-FTP servers in…
Give your agent the search over MCP, or paste the wish link into any chat.
More Python Modules packages
Converts domain names between Unicode and ASCII-compatible encoding (Punycode) according to IDNA 2008 and Unicode Technical Standard 46, with security validation and broader script coverage than the standard library.
Install it if you work with internationalized domain names, need to validate domains, or use HTTP clients that depend on it transitively.
Setuptools is a Python build backend and package management tool that handles building, distributing, and installing Python packages, including support for C/C++ extension modules.
PyYAML parses and emits YAML 1.1 data format, enabling serialization and deserialization of configuration files and Python objects to and from human-readable YAML text.
Pydantic validates Python data structures against type hints, coercing and checking input at runtime to ensure it matches a declared schema.
Provides reusable metadata objects for use with PEP-593 `typing.Annotated` to express common constraints like bounds, collection sizes, and predicates on types.
Install it if you use or build libraries that need to express type constraints in a standardized, inspectable way—or if you want to annotate your own types with…
Provides runtime tools to inspect and introspect Python type annotations, enabling programmatic examination of type hints at execution time.
See also pyftpdlib · fatfs-ng · pysftp · python-fsutil · aioftp · tuspy · Unipath · genie.libs.filetransferutils · scp · ipfshttpclient