openssl-decrypt:
decrypt a file using our best settings

Syntax:

openssl-decrypt <input file path> [output file path]

Example:

$ openssl-decrypt example.txt.aes

Output is a new decrypted file:

example.txt

Settings

• Symmetric encryption, i.e. we use the same password for encryption and decryption. We choose this because our users can understand symmetric more easily than asymmetic.

• Encryption using the aes-256-cbc cipher algorithm. We choose this because it's a good balance of strong, fast, and portable.

• Message digest using SHA-256. We choose this because it's the current default of the current openssl tool, and we set it explicity because openssl versions have different defaults.

• Salt that is randomly generated.

• The output file path defaults to the input file path without the suffix ".aes".

Command

The command is:

openssl aes-256-cbc -d -salt -md sha256
  -in "example.txt.aes"
  -out "example.txt"

See also

These commands are similar:

• gpg-encrypt: use GPG to encrypt a file using our best settings.

• gpg-decrypt: use GPG to decrypt a file using our best settings.

• openssl-encrypt: use OpenSLL to encrypt a file using our best settings.

• openssl-decrypt: use OpenSSL to decrypt a file using our best settings.

Tracking

• Command: openssl-decrypt
• Version: 2.0.0
• Created: 2017-09-14
• Updated: 2017-11-27
• License: GPL
• Contact: Joel Parker Henderson (joel@joelparkerhenderson.com)