Context

From the start of the Internet, FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is one of the oldest standard protocol still used to create a bridge between two computers and let them exchange files. Thus, it is now subject to great security issues since authentication is not encrypted.

Deprecation of FTP support and our recommendation

Therefore from the year 2020, several web browsers have given up FTP Support for these very issues. That is why we highly recommend you to use instead a secured FTP client like Filezilla, WinSCP or others. For more information: How to download our data with an FTP client.

These will give you an upper-hand on much more functionalities like:

retrieve several files in parallel
download all files of a dataset, matching directories and subdirectories
an on-the-flow control on list of commands sent to the server
the pausing and resuming of an upload/download
the detailed download progress whereas there is just a vague loading time in a web browser

Main web browsers starting to deprecate FTP support

These web browsers versions and higher are not supported for FTP anymore:

It means that if you encounter any issue with this functionality, you won’t get assistance from their User Support. Then use it at your own discretion.

However, since many users have sent us requests on how to activate FTP on their browsers, we will show you a quick tutorial on both of these.

How to reactivate FTP support in Mozilla Firefox (only versions before `v.90`)

From v.88, FTP is disabled by default. Follow these steps to reactivate it:

Launch Firefox.
Enter about:config in the address bar and then Accept the risk to continue.
Search for a setting network.ftp.enabled and double-click on the opposing arrows to the right in order to change the value from false to true:

Now your FTP support is enabled in Firefox.

You can then check an FTP link on one of our product page like this one:

Or directly follow for example this link:

which you can retrieve from the Data access tab of the product:

Another tab will open. You will be asked to enter your Copernicus Marine credentials (if you don’t have them yet, sign up here!):

And then it’s done! 😃

You have access to our products through FTP:

How to reactivate FTP support in Google Chrome (only versions before `v.95`)

From v.86, FTP is disabled by default. Follow these steps to reactivate it:

Launch Google Chrome.
Enter chrome://flags in the address bar, hit Enter.
Switch Temporarily unexpire M91 flags from Default to Enabled.
To take effect, click on Relaunch Google Chrome button.
Back to the Search flags area (4), search for a setting enable-ftp.
Switch Enable support for FTP URLs from Default to Enabled.
To take effect, click on Relaunch Google Chrome button.