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Difference Between Downloading and Uploading
Downloading is a process in which the files are copied from a web server to a client machine, whereas Uploading is a process in which a client machine transmits the data to store it on a web server.
Read through this article to find out more about Downloading and Uploading how they are different from each other.
What is Downloading?
Downloading is the process by which any electronic device or computer acquires data from other network sources. The procedure of downloading is similar to that of storing the data. The data is really saved on another system and then communicated and stored on your machine, which is referred to as data downloading. A browser, for example, downloads certain webpages from a web server and then displays its content on browser window as it is downloading.
Downloading the content is a reliable technique of providing it to the end-user. It prevents the content from buffering, which occurs during streaming.
When you are downloading something, the process remains largely unaffected by the changing connection speed. It may, however, become slow if your Internet connection is slow.
Downloading also has no bearing on the content's quality. For example, the quality of videos we obtain after downloading does not change. However, video on demand requires a faster Internet connection to stream higher quality content.
The disadvantage of downloading is that it necessitates memory space for keeping the stuff that has been downloaded. Furthermore, downloading some content may take much longer than streaming the same content because streaming allows you to watch it simultaneously.
Downloading differs from streaming in that it entails storing the content from the server on the client's machine before viewing it.
What is Uploading?
Uploading is the exact reverse process of downloading, in which data and documents from a client's computer or device are sent across a network or the Internet to another device or server.
Web publishing authors, for example, typically utilize FTP to post their webpages to the webserver.
Another example of uploading is when you share a file on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. These social networking services have their own servers where users may submit photographs, movies, and audio files, among other things.
It is the File Transfer Protocol (FTP) that allows us to download or upload the data and files from and to the Internet. FTP is powered by two TCP connections: a data connection and a control connection. The control connection is used to send and receive control data such as instructions and answers. The data connection is utilized to carry out the data transmission.
Difference between Downloading and Uploading
The following table highlights the major differences between Downloading and Uploading −
Key | Downloading | Uploading |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Downloading is the process where files are transferred from a webserver to a user's computer. | Uploading is the process of transferring files from a user's computer to a server. |
| Speed of data transfer | The speed at which files are downloaded is generally faster than uploading the data. | Uploading a file is normally a slower process as compared to Downloading. |
| Internet speed | It's better to have a stable and fast Internet connection to download a file quickly. The time to download a file depends on the Internet speed. | The time required to upload a file also depends on the Internet speed. If you have a slow connection, then it will take a longer duration to upload a file. |
| Memory space | The client system needs to have sufficient memory in order to download a file. | In this case, the web server onto which you are uploading the data needs to have sufficient memory space. |
Conclusion
From the above discussion, Downloading is the process of transferring all the content of a file from a server to a client workstation before consuming the data; and Uploading is the exact opposite process of Downloading where the client workstation transmits data in order to save it on a web server.
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