Three names that differ by one letter, three very different levels of safety. This page separates FTP, FTPS and SFTP once and for all - what each one encrypts, which ports each one needs, and which one you should actually run.
The confusion is understandable. FTP is the old original from 1971. FTPS is that same FTP wrapped in TLS encryption. SFTP is not FTP at all - it is a file transfer protocol that rides inside SSH, the same secure shell used to administer servers. The video makes the point directly: plain FTP has no data security and is not recommended in banking environments, while SFTP is what gets used there. Here is the full picture.
FTP logs you in and moves files with no encryption at all. The username, the password and every byte of the file cross the network as readable text. Anybody positioned on the path - a compromised router, a snooping tool on the same network - can read or copy them. That is not a theoretical flaw; it is simply how the protocol was designed in a friendlier era. On a trusted home LAN the risk is lower, but there is rarely a reason to accept it today when the encrypted options cost nothing extra.
FTPS keeps the original FTP commands and adds a TLS certificate, like HTTPS does for websites. The login and data can be encrypted, which fixes the clear-text problem. But FTP was built with separate control and data connections, and the data side opens additional ports that change per transfer. Through firewalls and NAT routers that design is fiddly: passive port ranges must be opened and forwarded correctly or transfers fail in confusing ways.
Despite the similar name, SFTP shares no code and no design with FTP. It is the SSH File Transfer Protocol: one single connection on port 22, the same port and the same encryption as an SSH login. One port means one firewall rule and no passive-port headaches. Your identity is checked with a password or, better, an SSH key pair, and the server proves itself with a host key your client remembers. This is the protocol the video builds on Windows using the OpenSSH Server.
See the complete SFTP server setup on screen, step by step, in the Technical Anshu video.
Watch Full VideoNo. SFTP is a separate protocol built on SSH and shares nothing with FTP except the job it does. FTPS is the one that adds encryption (TLS) to the original FTP.
SFTP multiplexes everything - login, commands and file data - inside a single SSH connection on port 22. Classic FTP opens separate data connections, which is why it needs port 21 plus a range of passive data ports through the firewall.
The client is the same program, but the server side is different software. On Windows you would run the OpenSSH Server for SFTP, then in FileZilla choose the SFTP protocol and port 22 instead of FTP and port 21.