The File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is standard network protocol used for transferring files between clients and servers. Libsyn supports FTP and FTPS (FTP over SSL), Libsyn does not currently support SFTP.
All Libsyn plan levels come with support for uploading and publishing via FTP.
Configure Your FTP Password
Before you may upload via FTP to Libsyn you need to setup your FTP password. This is done via the Libsyn Dashboard.
Start by logging into your Libsyn account and selecting the drop down next to your name in the upper right hand corner of the dashboard.
Expand the FTP Password section. Enter your new password, then confirm your new password.
Toward the bottom of the page, ensure both terms of service checkboxes are checked. Then hit Save to save your changes.
Using FTP
In order to use the FTP service, you will need to install an FTP client on your system if you don't already have one. Below are a few that we recommend:
Windows:
MacOS:
Once you have an FTP client installed you will want to open up a new connection and use the following details:
- Hostname: ftp-lax.libsyn.com
- Username: Libsyn Account E-mail Address
- Password: Libsyn FTP Password
- Port Numbers:
- FTP: 21
- FTPS: 990
When configuring your connection settings, you may be asked for the FTP protocol. Select either FTP (port 21) or FTPS (port 990).
Once you have entered all the connection details, you can connect to the FTP server. Your FTP client will present you with a list of folders. These folders will be the list of shows (named by your show slug) that your user account has access to.
If you only have one show, that will be the only folder listed.
Browsing into the folder for the show you want to upload content to, you will find four subfolders available.
assets
dropbox
public
quickcast
Each of these folders will do something different with the file you upload. The purpose of each folder and exactly how it processes the file you upload is detailed below.
Assets
The assets folder can be used to upload image files or pdf's that you want to be able to link to, either in your show notes or an external website. Any content uploaded here will be accessible using the following url structure:
https://assets.libsyn.com/images/showslug/filename
Dropbox
Not to be confused with the Dropbox cloud storage service, the dropbox folder is used to upload media files that you wish to publish later.
Any file uploaded to the dropbox folder on the FTP server can be found in the Libsyn dashboard under Content --> FTP/Unreleased.
In order to publish a file in FTP/Unreleased, create your new episode and select the 'ADD MEDIA' button. Then select the 'FTP/Unreleased' option and choose your file. Continue to create and publish your episode as normal.
The dropbox folder can also be used to replace existing media files. To replace a file already previously uploaded to Libsyn, upload the file to your dropbox folder using the exact same file name as was used previously. The new version of the file will replace the old version automatically.
Additional details on replacing files can be found here.
Public
The public folder is used to publish media files as 'file for download only'. These are media files that are made publicly accessible but are not published to any destinations (such as RSS feeds, social destinations, or web pages).
Quickcast
The quickcast folder is used to immediately publish content to all destinations setup on your show.
This feature works by pulling out the title, description & artwork for the episode from the ID3 tag of the media file. The title is pulled from the title tag and the description will be pulled from the lyric tag if it's filled in otherwise it will fallback to what is in the comment tag. If artwork is in the ID3 tag it will be pulled and set as the episode artwork.
Important Note: When you upload a file to Libsyn's FTP server using any of the available processing folders outlined above, the file will upload and then seem to disappear. This is normal. Libsyn pulls the file from the FTP server, processes the file, and stores it using Libsyn's internal storage and CDN systems. Once uploaded, all files can be found in Libsyn's dashboard (either via FTP/Unreleased, as a published file, or under Content --> File Manager).
Getting Additional Help
Have questions? Contact our friendly support staff at support@libsyn.com.