What Is PuTTy?

Screenshot of PuTTy - Wikimedia

Date First Published: 6th June 2022

Topic: Computer Networking

Topic: Network Software

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 6/10

CONTENTS

Features Of PuTTy

Learn more about what PuTTy is in this article.

PuTTY is a free terminal emulator software that can act as a client for the SSH, Telnet, and rlogin protocols with an xterm terminal emulator. It is compatible with Windows and Linux and was developed in 1998 by Simon Tatham, a British computer programmer and was released on 8th January 1999. PuTTy enables users to communicate with a server or remote device by specifying the domain name, username, and password.

Because PuTTy uses a command-line interface, it is necessary for users to remember commands to perform actions, which is difficult for inexperienced users who are unfamiliar with commands. A lot of users choose a program with a graphical user interface that is easier to operate, such as FileZilla FTP client.

Note:

It is unknown why it is called PuTTy. The name has no official meaning.

Features Of PuTTy

User control over the SSH encryption key and protocol version, enabling customisability for different standards, such as AES, 3DES, RC4, Blowfish, DES, and public-key authentication.
Support for single-sign-on (SSO) through GSSAPI.
Local, remote, or dynamic port forwarding with SSH.
Support for IPv6 by the network communication layer.
Support for the delayed compression scheme by the SSH protocol.
Command-line SCP and SFTP clients.