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# 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:
```python
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
with open("encrypted-pdf.pdf", "wb") as f:
writer.write(f)
```
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:
```python
from pypdf import PdfReader, PdfWriter
reader = PdfReader("encrypted-pdf.pdf")
if reader.is_encrypted:
reader.decrypt("my-secret-password")
writer = PdfWriter(clone_from=reader)
# Save the new PDF to a file
with open("decrypted-pdf.pdf", "wb") as f:
writer.write(f)
```
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