age
File encryption with one small key, no options to get wrong, and a command you can remember.
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About age
age encrypts a file to a recipient key and decrypts it with the matching identity. There are no cipher choices, no key servers and no configuration file, which is the whole design: the tool that cannot be misconfigured cannot be misconfigured badly. Keys are short strings you can paste into a password manager.
It reads and writes on standard input and output, so it composes with tar, curl and everything else in a shell pipeline. SSH keys work as recipients, YubiKeys are supported through a plugin, and there are interoperable implementations in Rust and TypeScript.
Strengths
- No options to choose, so there is no insecure configuration to fall into
- Keys are short strings that fit in a password manager
- Composes with pipes, so encrypting a tar stream is one line
- Accepts SSH keys as recipients, and YubiKeys through a plugin
Limitations
- Command line only; there is no official graphical front end
- No key server or web of trust, so you exchange keys yourself
- Not a drop-in replacement for GPG's signing and keyring features
- Deliberately has no password strength or key management policy
Details
- Pricing
- Free · Free and open source under the BSD 3-Clause licence.
- License
- BSD-3-Clause
- Developer
- FiloSottile
- Platforms
- Windows, macOS, Linux, Command line
- How it runs
- Downloadable app
- Account
- Not required
- Works offline
- Yes
- Best suited for
- Encrypting a file or a backup stream without a GPG keyring
- Categories
- Encryption tools
- Last verified
- Added
- Provenance
- Selected from the TechWalrus downloads catalog (Security); facts checked against the developer's own pages, 2 sources on file.
Similar software
Related functionality, not necessarily a direct replacement.
VeraCrypt
Disk encryption that creates encrypted containers, encrypts whole partitions, and can encrypt the drive Windows boots from.
Cryptomator
Encrypts a folder inside your existing cloud storage, so Dropbox or OneDrive holds files it cannot read.
Picocrypt
A tiny, single-purpose file encryption tool using XChaCha20 and Argon2id. Archived by its author, but still working.
Gpg4win
GnuPG packaged for Windows with the Kleopatra key manager, for signing and encrypting files and email.
