# Ancient Web: Pieter Built a Real Anonymous FTP Server in 2026

Pieter.com runs a real anonymous FTP server as a non-commercial preservation project, reviving the direct file-browsing experience modern browsers abandoned years ago.

2026-06-13
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Switchboard Tech Services


![Ancient Web: Pieter Built a Real Anonymous FTP Server in 2026](https://switchboardtechservices.com/static/images/defaults/articles.webp)

Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/).

Most retro-computing projects emulate old software.

Pieter decided to bring back the **protocol**.

[Visit Pieter's FTP server](http://ftp.pieter.com/)

The page is wonderfully explicit: this is a real FTP server with anonymous login, part of a non-commercial preservation project. The server lives at `ftp://ftp.pieter.com` and exposes directories for applications, games, MIDI files, MP3s and other material.

That matters because modern browsers quietly removed FTP support years ago. Chrome, Firefox and other mainstream browsers stopped behaving like general-purpose clients for `ftp://` links, turning a once-routine part of using the internet into something younger users may never have seen.

Pieter's page therefore does two jobs at once.

It hosts files, and it demonstrates the older network model directly.

## Before every file needed a web app

Anonymous FTP was brutally simple.

You connected to a server, logged in as `anonymous`, moved through directories and downloaded files. No account dashboard. No JavaScript bundle. No infinite-scroll card grid. No recommendation engine deciding which ZIP file had better engagement.

Just directories and files.

Pieter's server deliberately preserves that experience. The web-facing index explains that browsers no longer support FTP and points visitors toward software that still does. It also makes clear that the server exists for preservation and community use rather than as a commercial download service.

The surrounding [Pieter.com](http://Pieter.com) project goes even further into living retro-computing: old operating systems, dial-up experiments, IRC and other technologies are presented as things you can still interact with rather than merely read about.

That distinction is useful.

A screenshot can show what an FTP client looked like. A working server teaches you what connecting to one actually feels like.

The server index was still being updated in **September 2026**, so this is not a corpse somebody forgot to unplug. It is a modern reconstruction built with enough fidelity to remain useful as a teaching tool and historical toy.

The ancient web was not only HTML.

Some of it was a blinking cursor asking for a username.

[Connect through Pieter's FTP project](http://ftp.pieter.com/)

Part of the [Ancient Web Collection](https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-collection/).

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Canonical URL: https://switchboardtechservices.com/articles/ancient-web-pieter-built-a-real-anonymous-ftp-server-in-2026/

Language: en-us

Content type: article

Author: Switchboard Tech Services

Published: 2026-06-13T23:09:28+00:00