SFTP supports two transfer methods: ASCII and binary. In ASCII mode individual letters, numbers, and characters are transferred using their ASCII character code, and the receiving computer saves these in the correct text format for that system.

What's the difference between binary and ASCII transfer mode in SFTP?

Files sent in "binary" mode are sent from one system to another with no modification. ... "ASCII" mode is appropriate when using FTP to send a single text file between two PCs. "binary" mode is appropriate when sending anything else: TAR files, compressed files, gzip'd files, CA-Alexandria binaries, etc.

Does FTP use ASCII?

The ftp command supports both ASCII (default) and binary image file transfer types, but we recommend using ASCII when transferring text files. In ASCII mode, character conversions to and from the network standard character set are performed.