An access log is a text file containing a thorough report on all the files accessed by your Internet site visitors. All the files which were requested in one way or another will be included, so when you have a PHP script program and a website visitor opens only the home page, for instance, you might find plenty of files inside the log. This is because there are components on the home page that are embedded - parts of other web pages, graphics, and so forth. All these files shall be listed in the access log, so you're able to get a detailed picture of the way your website performs. The info is in plain text format, so the logs are sometimes called "raw data" too. An access log provides the name of every requested file, the path to it, the date it was accessed, plus the user’s IP address, browser and OS. More information, like the referrer Internet site, is typically included as well. A log file may be processed by various desktop programs for statistical purposes as an addition to the web statistics provided by your hosting server.