OPENSSL-PKEY(1SSL)

📦
version 4.0.3 · 13 versions
, in ubuntu stonking

💖 OPENSSL-PKEY 💖 — public or private key processing command

okay so bestie, welcome to the openssl-pkey era — it's part of the OpenSSL manual set (the 1SSL squad) and it is literally your main character tool for taking public and private keys and doing stuff to them. ✨

📛 NAME

openssl-pkey — public or private key processing command 🫶

🪄 SYNOPSIS

openssl pkey [-help] [-provider name] [-provider-path path] [-provparam
       [name:]key=value] [-propquery propq] [-check] [-pubcheck] [-in
       filename|uri] [-inform DER|PEM|P12] [-passin arg] [-pubin] [-out
       filename] [-outform DER|PEM] [-encopt opt:value] [-cipher] [-passout
       arg] [-traditional] [-pubout] [-noout] [-text] [-text_pub]
       [-ec_conv_form arg] [-ec_param_enc arg]

🌸 DESCRIPTION

This command processes public or private keys. They can be converted between various forms and their components printed. That's the whole vibe — glow up your key, change its form, peek at its insides. 💅

✨ OPTIONS ✨

🎀 General options

  • -help — Print out a usage message. (the "help me bestie" button 🆘)
  • -provider name, -provider-path path, -provparam [name:]key=value, -propquery propq — See "Provider Options" in openssl(1), provider(7), and property(7). 📚
  • -check — This option checks the consistency of a key pair, for both the public and the private components. 🕵️‍♀️
  • -pubcheck — This option checks the correctness of either a public key or the public component of a key pair. 👑

🍓 Input options

  • -in filename|uri — This specifies the input file to read a key from, or standard input if this option is not specified.

If the key input is encrypted and -passin is not given, a pass phrase will be prompted for. 🔐

  • -inform DER|PEM|P12 — The key input format; unspecified by default. See openssl-format-options(1) for details. 📥
  • -passin arg — The password source for the key input.

For more information about the format of arg see openssl-passphrase-options(1).

  • -pubin — By default a private key is read from the input. With this option a public key is read instead. If the input contains no public key but a private key, its public part is used. 🔄

🦋 Output options

  • -out filename — This specifies the output file to save the encoded and/or text output of the key, or standard output if this option is not specified. The output filename can be the same as the input filename, which leads to replacing the file contents. Note that file I/O is not atomic. The output file is truncated and then written. 😭

If any cipher option is set but no -passout is given, then a pass phrase will be prompted for. When password input is interrupted, the output file is not touched. 🫶

  • -outform DER|PEM — The key output format; the default is PEM. See openssl-format-options(1) for details.
  • -encopt opt:value — Set the private key encoder parameter opt to value. In order to set multiple parameters, multiple -encopt options can be specified, each specifying a single parameter. The precise set of supported parameters depends on the public key algorithm involved and its implementation. This is primarily applicable to ML-DSA and ML-KEM, whose private key encoding to a PKCS#8 object can take a number of different forms. The "output_formats" parameter can be used to select the preferred output forms. See EVP_PKEY-ML-DSA(7) and EVP_PKEY-ML-KEM(7) for details. 🧚
  • -cipher — Encrypt the PEM encoded private key with the supplied cipher. This option is specified by prepending a hyphen to the cipher name (e.g., -aes-256-cbc or -aes128), not as an argument to a "-cipher" flag. In DER output form encryption is supported only in the default PKCS#8 form and is not available when the -traditional option is used. Use openssl list -cipher-algorithms to see the available ciphers. 🔒
  • -passout arg — The password source for the output file.

For more information about the format of arg see openssl-passphrase-options(1).

  • -traditional — Normally a private key is written using standard format: this is PKCS#8 form with the appropriate encryption algorithm (if any). If the -traditional option is specified then the older "traditional" format is used instead, and in DER output form encryption is not available. 👵
  • -pubout — By default the private and public key is output; this option restricts the output to the public components. This option is automatically set if the input is a public key.

When combined with -text, this is equivalent to -text_pub.

  • -noout — Do not output the key in encoded form. (sneaky lil "surprise, no key blobs" flag 🙈)
  • -text — Output the various key components in plain text (possibly in addition to the PEM encoded form). This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format. ⚠️
  • -text_pub — Output in text form only the public key components (also for private keys). This cannot be combined with encoded output in DER format. ⚠️
  • -ec_conv_form arg — This option only applies to elliptic-curve based keys.

This specifies how the points on the elliptic curve are converted into octet strings. Possible values are: compressed (the default value), uncompressed and hybrid. For more information regarding the point conversion forms please read the X9.62 standard. Note Due to patent issues the compressed option is disabled by default for binary curves and can be enabled by defining the preprocessor macro OPENSSL_EC_BIN_PT_COMP at compile time.

  • -ec_param_enc arg — This option only applies to elliptic curve based public and private keys.

This specifies how the elliptic curve parameters are encoded. Possible value are: named_curve, i.e. the ec parameters are specified by an OID, or explicit where the ec parameters are explicitly given (see RFC 3279 for the definition of the EC parameters structures). The default value is named_curve. Note the implicitlyCA alternative, as specified in RFC 3279, is currently not implemented in OpenSSL.

🎬 EXAMPLES

To remove the pass phrase on a private key:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -out keyout.pem

To encrypt a private key using triple DES:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -des3 -out keyout.pem

To convert a private key from PEM to DER format:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -outform DER -out keyout.der

To print out the components of a private key to standard output:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -text -noout

To print out the public components of a private key to standard output:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -text_pub -noout

To just output the public part of a private key:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -pubout -out pubkey.pem

To change the EC parameters encoding to explicit:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_param_enc explicit -out keyout.pem

To change the EC point conversion form to compressed:

openssl pkey -in key.pem -ec_conv_form compressed -out keyout.pem

👀 SEE ALSO

openssl(1), openssl-genpkey(1), openssl-rsa(1), openssl-pkcs8(1), openssl-dsa(1), openssl-genrsa(1), openssl-gendsa(1)

📜 HISTORY

  • The -engine option was removed in OpenSSL 4.0. 💀
  • The -encopt option was added in OpenSSL 4.0. 🎉
  • As of OpenSSL 4.0 the -pass and -cipher options apply when private keys are output in both PEM and DER (except with -traditional) forms. Previously, these private key encryption options were rejected in combination with the DER output form.

Copyright 2006-2026 The OpenSSL Project Authors. All Rights Reserved.

Licensed under the Apache License 2.0 (the "License"). You may not use this file except in compliance with the License. You can obtain a copy in the file LICENSE in the source distribution or at https://www.openssl.org/source/license.html.

and that's the whole page bestie, no cap — this was OpenSSL 4.0.3, dated 2026-09-29, aka the OPENSSL-PKEY(1SSL) manual page. go forth and process those keys, you absolute icon 👑💖🦋

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