Em caso de dúvida, leia a RFC :
File-structure is the default to be assumed if the STRUcture command has not been used but both file and record structures must be accepted for "text" files (i.e., files with TYPE ASCII or EBCDIC) by all FTP implementations. The structure of a file will affect both the transfer mode of a file (see the Section on Transmission Modes) and the interpretation and storage of the file.
The "natural" structure of a file will depend on which host stores the file. A source-code file will usually be stored on an IBM Mainframe in fixed length records but on a DEC TOPS-20 as a stream of characters partitioned into lines, for example by . If the transfer of files between such disparate sites is to be useful, there must be some way for one site to recognize the other's assumptions about the file.
etc etc ... Resumindo, é garantir que as representações de texto em uma codificação sejam convertidas corretamente quando transferidas para hosts usando uma codificação diferente.