What is the Use of .ftpquota File?

There's an automatically created file you would see when you connect to your website via an FTP client, which is named as the .ftpquota file. Though it is not a crucial file like an index file or .htaccess file, it still has its use which we will explain in detail in this post.

What is .ftpquota File?

If you are familiar with servers and websites, you might have noticed the .ftpquota file at one time. In this post, we will try to explain what it is and why it exists.

First of all, as you may guess from its name, the .ftpquota file is related to file transfer, or FTP (File Transfer Protocol) in other words. You may have seen the .ftpquota file when you log in to your hosting control panel and open the File Manager

What is the Use of .ftpquota File? - 1

or when you connect to your server via an FTP client.

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How is .ftpquota File Created?

When you add an addon domain to your hosting account, cPanel creates an FTP account for that domain (if your hosting control panel is cPanel). Hence, you can give someone access to just that addon domain, via FTP. This becomes handy especially when you are providing hosting to others from your shared hosting account and you don't want to give them access to your whole account.

An .ftpquota file is created automatically when you access an addon domain on your server via an FTP client, such as FileZilla, for the first time. It is not created for stand-alone domains.

You can manage FTP accounts in the FTP Accounts section of cPanel and add or remove them. When you delete an FTP account, you should also delete the .ftpquota file if it still exists in the root directory of that addon domain.

Deleting the .ftpquota file will not cause any problem. Actually it will be recreated automatically again when you connect to your website and transfer files. However, it is better not to touch it unless you know what you are doing.

What Information Does .ftpquota File Store?

Assuming your domain is an addon domain, when you upload files to your website via FTP, the .ftpquota file logs the maximum number and size of the uploded files in a single transfer.

For example, if you upload one file with a size of 100kb, the .ftpquota file will log:

1 100

Then if you upload three files with a total size of 1500kb, it will update to:

3 1500

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