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This article is about the computer terms.

Download is also an industrial band led by CEvin Key.

Download is also a British heavy metal festival.

Uploading is also a hypothetical transfer of a human mind into a computer.

To upload a file onto Wikipedia, see Special:Upload.

To download the Wikipedia database, see Wikipedia:Database download.

Computer networking

Uploading and downloading are related terms used to describe the transfer of electronic data between two computers or similar devices. Their primary usage is as a verb: to upload is to send data from a local computer to some remote computer, such as a website, File Transfer Protocol (FTP) server, or other device. To download is to receive data from a remote computer.

In general use, the terms do not refer to the basic communication required for the operation of the software including connecting to an FTP server or requesting and receiving data displayed in a web browser. Instead, they are reserved for the specific and intentional act of transferring a file.

By extension, the terms can be used as nouns. In this context, an upload is any file that has been uploaded, particularly if it is awaiting the recipient's attention. A download is any file that is offered for downloading or that has been downloaded.

Similarly but less commonly used, the transfer of data from one remote computer to another is called sideloading.

Jargon

In corporate jargon, download can refer to any transfer of information, especially summarized information, analogous to a briefing.

See also

• FTP
• peer-to-peer
• Download manager

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To upload files to Wikipedia, or for instructions on this, see the Special:Upload page..

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