Which server protocol is primarily associated with email communication?

The server protocol that is primarily associated with email communication is SMTP (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol). SMTP is designed specifically for sending and relaying emails between servers and clients. It functions as the backbone for email transmission, allowing the sending of outbound emails from a client (like an email application) to an email server and from one email server to another.

IMAP (Internet Message Access Protocol) is also related to email, but its primary purpose is to retrieve and store messages from a mail server, allowing users to access their email without downloading it. Therefore, while both SMTP and IMAP are crucial for email functionality, SMTP is the one that handles the sending aspect, making it the primary protocol associated with email communication.

FTP (File Transfer Protocol) is used for transferring files between a client and a server, and HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) is the protocol for transferring web pages. Neither FTP nor HTTP relates specifically to email communication.

Understanding the roles of these protocols clarifies their distinctions in the context of how email functions over the internet.