An access log is a text file that contains a complete list of all the files accessed by your Internet site visitors. All of the files which were requested in one way or another shall be included, so if you have a PHP script program and a website visitor opens just the home page, for instance, you may find a lot of files in the log. The reason is that there are components on the home page which are embedded - parts of other webpages, graphics, and so forth. These files will be listed within the access log, so you can get a detailed picture of the way your site works. The info is in plain text format, so the logs are occasionally termed "raw data" as well. An access log provides the name of every requested file, the path to it, the date it was accessed, along with the user’s IP address, web browser and Operating System. Additional information, such as the referrer site, is sometimes provided as well. A log file may be processed by various desktop programs for statistical purposes as an addition to the web stats provided by your website hosting server.