Password-protect a PDF

Encrypt a PDF with a password before sending it anywhere sensitive — payslips, contracts, medical records. The file is protected with AES-256, the strong standard PDF encryption that every modern reader (Adobe, browsers, phones) can open with the right password.

This tool is deliberately stateless: your file and password travel in one request, the encrypted result streams straight back, and nothing is stored — no upload record, no queue job, no logged password. That isn't a promise bolted on afterwards; it's how the endpoint is built.

How it works
  1. 1

    Choose the PDF and type a password (up to 127 characters).

  2. 2

    Encryption runs in a single request — nothing is persisted anywhere.

  3. 3

    The protected PDF downloads immediately. Share it; send the password separately.

Need to remove a password you know? The companion Unlock tool in the full app reverses this with the same stateless, nothing-stored design — a wrong password is told apart from a file that was never encrypted, so you always know what actually happened.

Remember: PDF encryption protects the file in transit and at rest, but anyone you give the password to can make an unprotected copy. Choose who gets it.

Protect PDF — questions

Is my password stored anywhere?

No. It exists only inside the single encrypt request and is never written to disk, database or logs — the endpoint is built stateless specifically for this.

What encryption is used?

AES-256 (PDF R6), the current standard — supported by all modern PDF readers.

What if I forget the password?

There is no backdoor — that's the point of encryption. Keep the password safe; we cannot recover it and neither can anyone else.

Related tools