How do I create an encrypted (password protected) zip file?
asked Dec 15 '10 at 20:37
-
1Related: Compressing folders with password via command line – Byte Commander♦ Apr 24 '15 at 21:48
-
2Note, that Zip Passwords is no protection! those can be easily broken! use 7-Zip with a long password instead, or better GNUPG encryption! – rubo77 Feb 7 '18 at 10:36
-
gnupg is the answer – domih Nov 7 '18 at 14:25
Add a comment
|
This will prompt for a password:
zip --encrypt file.zip files
This is more insecure, as the password is entered/shown as plain text:
zip --password (password) file.zip files
Warning, the standard zip encryption is very weak and is easily cracked.
Note, Use -r to zip directory and subdirectory recursively.
answered Dec 15 '10 at 20:46
-
2
-
7Using gnupg on the final zip with a key for yourself or your destination. – Pete Ashdown Dec 15 '10 at 21:43
-
1
-
12@Black If you're trying to compress a folder, then you need to use
-rswitch. So it'll bezip --encrypt file.zip -r your_folder– H G Sur Jan 20 '18 at 11:55 -
1
Starting from Ubuntu 17.10, right-clicking and selecting "Compress" no longer has "Other Options" listed.
To resolve this, open "Archive Manager" and then drag & drop the files/folders from your File Manager into it and it will appear.
-
1If Archive Manager is not installed (as in my lightweight debian for example), it can be installed with
$ su root -c 'apt-get install file-roller'. – Arsinclair May 14 '20 at 8:27
You can also right-click on a folder or file(s) in Nautilus and select "Compress...". In the resulting window, you can expand the "Other Options" section to enter a password.
If the password field or any of the other options are not enabled, then the selected compression option does not support it. Select a different one from the list after the filename. According to the documentation:
Currently, only 7-Zip, ZIP, RAR and ARJ archives support encryption
Comments and answers have mentioned the default zip encryption is weak, but since there is no code example, here is on with .7zip:
sudo apt-get install p7zip-full # install 7zip
7za a -tzip -p -mem=AES256 foo_file.zip foo_folder # encrypt folder
Commands explained:
7za: Use 7zipa: Append? / Adding files? (efor extraction)-tzip: Use .zip format instead of default .7z-mem=AES256: Use AES256 encryptionfoo_file.zip: Name of .zip filefoo_folder: Name of folder to encrypt
Answer based on: https://www.tecmint.com/7zip-command-examples-in-linux/
-
-
I think the resulting .zip is the same as using software on Windows to create a .zip with a password. I haven't experienced anyone telling me they couldn't unzip this, but I haven't used it often. – NumesSanguis Jul 21 '19 at 14:17
-
1Windows zip folder does not support AES256. 7-zip or WinZip (maybe WinRAR too?) should be able to extract it. – syockit Jul 20 '20 at 15:21
sudo apt-get install zip
zip -r --encrypt result.zip folder
- Install zip
- Use
-rto zip directory and subdirectory Use
--encryptto secure your fileswith a simple password-based symmetric encryption system, which is documented in the ZIP specification
Encrypt
gpg -c your.zip
creates your.zip.gpg
Decrypt:
gpg your.zip.gpg
More details including directories.
with bsdtar
Encrypt a_file, creating the encrypted archive encrypted.zip (you'll be prompted for a password):
bsdtar --options zip:encryption -acf encrypted.zip a_file
Decrypt and extract the file from the encrypted archive:
bsdtar -xf encrypted.zip
The -a option when creating the archive makes bsdtar choose the archive format and its compression using the ending of the archive, .zip. If you don't add -a, you'll get this error message:
bsdtar: Unknown module name: `zip'
The metadata (filenames) of an encrypted zip can be read with unzip -l
The solution, as described in that link is to double-zip it but it is really not elegant.
Also, some email providers block that kind of attachment, gmail for example.
