We'd like to use analytics cookies to understand which symbols people look up, so we know what to research next. They are not used for advertising and we set none of them unless you say yes. What we store.
A downward arrow, usually above a horizontal bar or an open tray.
Also known as: Down arrow, Arrow pointing down
Sometimes confused with: Save icon
A downward arrow means download. The direction encodes a spatial metaphor — remote is up, local is down — that has no physical basis but is consistent enough across systems to be read reliably.
Marks a control that transfers a file from a remote system to the device in use.
Contexts: Software
Relies on a spatial convention rather than a physical fact: remote systems are drawn as above and the local device as below, which is why the same arrow reversed means upload.
Contexts: Software
A vertical arrow pointing downward, in most drawings ending just above a short horizontal bar or the open mouth of a shallow tray.
The same arrow reversed, for the opposite direction of transfer.