Final answer:
Local storage is used for persistent data storage on the client side and can store larger amounts of data than cookies, which are designed for session management and user tracking with smaller data size and are sent with every HTTP request.
Step-by-step explanation:
The difference between local storage and cookies is both in their purpose and their technical capacity. Local storage allows a web application to store larger amounts of data on a client's browser, and this data persists even after the browser is closed and reopened. Unlike cookies, local storage is not sent to the server with every HTTP request, which makes it less suitable for session management but better for storing larger quantities of data without affecting website performance.
Cookies, on the other hand, are primarily designed to track user activities, handle sessions, and remember specific information about users, such as site preferences. They are smaller in size and are sent with every HTTP request to the server, which can impact performance if you have a lot of them. Furthermore, cookies can be set to expire after a certain date, which local storage does not do by default.
Summarizing, option B is incorrect as cookies can also be read by the server, and option C is also incorrect because it's the other way around - cookies are often used for session management while local storage is intended for more persistent data storage. Option D is incorrect because cookies are not always stored as text files on the server; they're primarily client-side and sent to the server with each request. The only statement partially correct is option A, but it's misleading as it suggests that local storage has less capacity than cookies when, in fact, it generally offers more.