Difference between uploading and downloading

The larger the file, the longer it takes to transfer the information in it. The quality of the connection from the Internet or central server to the smaller computer or device also makes a difference in the transfer speed. A computer that has high-speed Internet connection will be able to download or upload a file much more quickly than a computer that has a low-speed connection would.

In addition, the speed of the server on which the file is stored can affect upload times or download times. Uploading and downloading occur frequently, often without the user being aware that he or she is doing it.

For example, incoming email is downloaded from a server, and outgoing emails are uploaded to be sent out. Whenever a computer or device is connected to the Internet or another larger system, files are frequently transferred back and forth — uploaded and downloaded — throughout the normal course of use.

Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a EasyTechJunkie researcher and writer. Uploading speed is Comparatively low. Recommended Articles. Article Contributed By :. Easy Normal Medium Hard Expert. Writing code in comment? Please use ide. Load Comments. What's New. The downloading is the process in which any electronic device or computer obtains information from other sources residing in the network.

The downloading process is analogous to saving some data. In actual, the data is stored at some other machine, and which is then transmitted and stored to your machine, then this is known as the downloading of the data. For example, a browser downloads some specific web pages from the web server on the Internet. Furthermore, at the time of downloading the browser represents a logo or aminated graphics in the window of the browser. For example, the web publishing author frequently uses FTP to upload their web pages to the webserver.

The other example of the uploading is when you upload a file to social website accounts such as Facebook and Instagram. These social networking sites have there own servers where the users can upload the images, videos, audios, etcetera. The mechanism works behind the downloading and uploading process is the FTP protocol. FTP expands to the File Transfer Protocol which enables the downloading and uploading of the data and the file from and to the Internet.

What's the difference between a download and an upload? These are basic terms that any web user should understand. They come into play when following some directions, troubleshooting network issues, choosing your internet speed, and more. Below, we'll go over what uploading and downloading means, as well as common peripheral terms and information that will help you have a firmer grasp of these common online processes.

When you upload something to a website, another user's computer, a network location, etc. Files can be uploaded to a server, such as a website, or directly to another device, like when using a file transfer utility. For example, if you upload an image to Facebook, you're sending the picture from your device to the Facebook website.

The file started with you and ended up somewhere else, so it's considered an upload from your perspective. This is true for any transfer like this, no matter the file type or where it's going. You can upload documents to your teacher via email, upload a video to YouTube, upload music to your online music collection, etc. You're taking data from elsewhere and putting it onto your device, essentially bringing it "down" from the internet.

Downloading something from the web means that you're transferring data from the other location to your own device, whether it be your phone, computer, tablet, smartwatch, etc. All sorts of information can be downloaded from the web: books, movies, software, etc. For example, you can download movies to your phone to watch while you're on the go, which means that the actual data that makes up the movie is transferred from the site you got it from and saved to your phone, making it locally available.

Considering that an upload is sending data, and a download is saving data, you might have caught on already that this goes on all the time when you use the web. Open your web browser and go to Google. Here's another example: when you browse YouTube for music videos, each search term you enter is sending tiny bits of data to the site to request the video you're looking for.

Each of those requests you send are uploads since they started on your device and ended up on YouTube's end. When the results are understood by YouTube and sent back to you as web pages, those pages are being downloaded to your device for you to see. For a more concrete example, think about an email.