PDFs, and other digital documents as well, are always prone to be tampered with by malicious actors. Therefore, the PDF files are encoded and encrypted before they are shared. The encrypted PDF files prevent unauthorized access and tampering of the content by malicious users. To perform PDF encryption programmatically, this article shows how to encrypt a PDF file in Python. Also, you will learn how to decrypt an encrypted PDF file in Python.
Python Library to Encrypt and Decrypt PDF
Encrypt a PDF in Python
Decrypt a PDF in Python
Protect PDF Files Online
Python Library to Encrypt and Decrypt PDF
To encrypt and decrypt PDF files, we will use Aspose.PDF for Python. It is a powerful library that provides basic as well as advanced features to create and manipulate PDF files. Let’s first install the library using the following pip command.
pip install aspose-pdf
Encrypt a PDF in Python
Aspose.PDF for Python lets you encrypt the PDF files using AESx128, AESx256, RC4x40, and RC4x128 algorithms. You can choose one of these encryption algorithms and protect your PDF file with a password. The following are the steps to encrypt a PDF in Python.
First, use Document class to load the input PDF file using its path.
Then, use Document.encrypt(“user_password”, “owner_password”, DocumentPrivilege, CryptoAlgorithm, bool) method to encrypt PDF.
Finally, save the encrypted PDF using Document.save() method.
The following code sample shows how to encrypt and password-protect a PDF in Python.
Decrypt a PDF in Python
You can also decrypt an encrypted PDF file using Aspose.PDF for Python. For this, you need to know the password of the protected PDF. The following are the steps to decrypt an encrypted PDF.
First, create an instance of Document class and initialize it with PDF’s path and password.
Then, call Document.decrypt() method to decrypt the PDF.
Finally, save the decrypted PDF using Document.save() method.
The below code sample demonstrates how to decrypt a PDF file in Python.
You can get a free temporary license and evaluate the PDF encryption feature without any limitations.
Explore Python PDF Library
You can learn more about our Python PDF library using the documentation. Explore its amazing features and share your suggestions, questions, or queries with us via our forum.
Conclusion
In this article, you have learned how to encrypt PDF files in Python. In addition, you have seen how to decrypt the encrypted PDF files from within your Python applications. In the end, we provided you with our web-based tool to protect PDF files online and for free.
Strongly encrypted PDFs can only be unlocked with the correct passwords. Unlocking a PDF is easy with Smallpdf. You just need to upload your PDF, enter the password (for strongly encrypted files), and download the unlocked PDF!
Some of the most common and widely used algorithms are AES, RSA, and Fernet. AES is a symmetric algorithm that uses the same key for encryption and decryption, and it is fast and efficient for large data.
Password encryption scrambles a PDF file's contents into unintelligible cipher text. Removing the password is not enough — any hacker would also need to figure out how to reconstruct the document data. As such, it's best to use password encryption instead of a plain password.
Open the PDF in Acrobat, and do one of the following: Go to All tools > Protect a PDF.From the Protect a PDF toolset in the left pane, select Encrypt with password.Select File > Protect Using Password.
Encryption is the process by which a readable message is converted to an unreadable form to prevent unauthorized parties from reading it. Decryption is the process of converting an encrypted message back to its original (readable) format. The original message is called the plaintext message.
To view the security settings of a document, press Ctrl + D (Windows) or Cmd + D (macOS) in Acrobat or Acrobat Reader.From the Document Properties dialog box, select the Security tab. If you have trouble opening a PDF or you're restricted from using certain features, contact the author of the PDF.
Best Python Cryptography Libraries for Secure Data Encryption
Table of Contents.
PyCryptodome. A self-contained cryptographic library, PyCryptodome is a popular choice for developers who want to implement encryption algorithms in Python. ...
You can use the cryptography module in Python to encrypt and decrypt data. When transmitting sensitive data, make sure to use secure communication channels. This could mean using HTTPS instead of HTTP, or using a secure messaging protocol. Make sure to regularly update your Python modules and other dependencies.
In actual real terms, it is not possible to crack the password of a protected PDF file. Only you can do is, you can remove the restrictions of PDF file which are like Edit, copy and print.
When a document is encrypted, its contents become unreadable.An authorized user can decrypt the document to obtain access to the contents. If a PDF document is encrypted with a password, the user must specify the open password before the document can be viewed in Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat.
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