Often, web applications will prompt the user to select a file, typically to upload to a server. Unless the web application makes use of a plugin, file selection occurs through an HTML input element, of the sort <input type="file"/>. Firefox 3.6 now supports much of the W3C File API, which specifies the ability to asynchronously read the selected file into memory, and perform operations on the file
![W3C FileAPI in Firefox 3.6 – Mozilla Hacks - the Web developer blog](https://cdn-ak-scissors.b.st-hatena.com/image/square/8f043099b608abf8384b24171faa177d3698e62e/height=288;version=1;width=512/https%3A%2F%2Fhacks.mozilla.org%2Fwp-content%2Fthemes%2FHax%2Fimg%2Fhacks-meta-image.jpg)