Download
To download is to receive data to a local system from a remote system, such as a webserver, FTP server, mail server, or other similar systems. A download is any file that is offered for downloading or that has been downloaded. The word's primary usage comes in the form of a verb. Increasingly, websites that offer streaming media or media displayed in-browser, such as YouTube, and which place restrictions on the ability of users to save these materials to their computers after they have been received, say that downloading is not permitted.1 In this context, "download" implies specifically "receive and save" instead of simply "receive."
Upload
The inverse operation, referred to as uploading, is to send data from a local system to a remote system, FTP server, website, etc., with the intent that the remote system should save a copy of whatever is being transferred. For example, "Uploading a video to Wikipedia" means to transfer a copy of a video file from your computer to this website, such that both systems retain identical copies.2. As with downloading a file, the collective process of sending a file to a remote system may at times be referred to simply as "an upload."
Sideload
When applied to local transfers, it is often difficult to decide if it is an upload or download, as both source and destination are in the local control of the user. Technically if the user uses the receiving device to initiate the transfer then it would be a download and if they used the sending device to initiate it would be an upload. However as most non technical users tend to use the term download to refer to any data transfer, the term "sideload" in increasingly being used to cover all local to local transfers to end this confusion.
See also
References
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