Question: Modern browsers like Chrome and Firefox can handle FTP downloads:

```
ftp://my-ftp.com/my-file.csv

```

I want to share a link to another person and I don't want them to enter a username and password through a prompt.

I am aware of the security impact, yet in this case ease of use has precedence. I wonder if there is an option to provide the credentials within the FTP URL directly.

Answer: 
You can provide the credentials to the URL like so:

```
username:password@host

```

Your example would become:

```
ftp://username:password@my-ftp.com/my-file.csv

```

---

You will run into problems if the user name contains invalid symbols such as `@`:

```
 ftp://usern@me:password@my-ftp.com/my-file.csv

```

For such a download, I had to fallback on using a client allowing the symbol, e.g. FileZilla.
Notable exception (for HTTP and HTTPS protocols) is IE:

> 
> Internet Explorer versions 3.0 to 6.0 support the following syntax for HTTP or HTTPS URLs:
>  `http(s)://username:password@server/resource.ext`
>  You can use this URL syntax to automatically send user information to a Web site that supports the basic authentication method.
> 
> 
> 

([Source](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/834489/internet-explorer-does-not-support-user-names-and-passwords-in-web-sit)). They do not support it for security concerns:

> 
> A malicious user might use this URL syntax to create a hyperlink that appears to open a legitimate Web site but actually opens a deceptive (spoofed) Web site. For example, the following URL appears to open <http://www.wingtiptoys.com> but actually opens <http://example.com>:
>  <http://www.wingtiptoys.com@example.com>
> 
> 
>