# Encryption and Decryption of PDFs

PDF encryption makes use of [`RC4`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RC4) and
[`AES`](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Encryption_Standard) algorithms
with different key length. `pypdf` supports all of them until `PDF-2.0`, which
is the latest PDF standard.

`pypdf` use an extra dependency to do encryption or decryption for `AES` algorithms.
We recommend [`pyca/cryptography`](https://cryptography.io/en/latest/). Alternatively,
you can use [`pycryptodome`](https://pypi.org/project/pycryptodome/).

```{note}
Please see the note in the [installation guide](installation.md)
for installing the extra dependencies if interacting with PDFs that use AES.
```

## Encrypt

You can encrypt a PDF by using a password:

```{testsetup}
pypdf_test_setup("user/encryption-decryption", {
    "example.pdf": "../resources/example.pdf",
    "encrypted-file.pdf": "../resources/encrypted-file.pdf",
})
```

```{testcode}
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

reader = PdfReader("example.pdf")
writer = PdfWriter(clone_from=reader)

# Add a password to the new PDF
writer.encrypt("my-secret-password", algorithm="AES-256")

# Save the new PDF to a file
writer.write("out-encrypt.pdf")
```

The algorithm can be one of `RC4-40`, `RC4-128`, `AES-128`, `AES-256-R5`, `AES-256`.
We recommend using `AES-256-R5`.

```{warning}
pypdf uses `RC4` by default for compatibility if you omit the "algorithm" parameter.
Since `RC4` is insecure, you should use `AES` algorithms.
```

## Decrypt

You can decrypt a PDF using the appropriate password:

```{testcode}
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter

reader = PdfReader("encrypted-file.pdf")

if reader.is_encrypted:
    reader.decrypt("test")  # secret password

writer = PdfWriter(clone_from=reader)

# Save the new PDF to a file
writer.write("out-decrypt.pdf")
```