I previously wrote a post about synchronising files using rsync. However, Drush allows for a much more convenient way to sync files between environments.

The defualt settings run an rsync with the arguments akz

# Sync files from live env to local
# Avoid syncing cache folders such as css, js and styles
drush rsync @live_alias:%files @local_alias:%files --exclude-paths=styles:css:js --verbose

# See all available options
drush rsync --help