DES / TripleDES Encrypt
Legacy DES and 3DES for interoperating with old systems — computed locally, with an honest warning that these algorithms are obsolete.
Legacy warning: DES is breakable by brute force and 3DES is deprecated — use only to talk to old systems.
Privacy: everything runs in your browser; keys and text never leave this page.
How to use
- Enter the text and pick DES (8-char key) or TripleDES (16 or 24-char key). Leave the key empty and Encrypt generates a random key of the right length — use the Show button to reveal it.
- Encrypt to get hex ciphertext; paste it back with Decrypt to reverse.
- For anything new, use AES-GCM instead — DES/3DES are compatibility tools.
Frequently asked questions
Why does this page warn me that DES is outdated?
DES has a 56-bit key and was broken by brute force in 1998; 3DES is stronger but slow, deprecated by NIST since 2023, and limited to 64-bit blocks. Both remain in the wild inside old banking hardware, file formats and protocols — this tool exists to interoperate with them, not to protect anything new.
DES or TripleDES — which do I need?
Match whatever the other side expects. DES uses an 8-character key; 3DES uses 16 or 24 characters. If you are building something new, stop here and use AES-GCM instead — see the AES tool on this site.
What do I paste to decrypt?
The hexadecimal output this tool produced when encrypting, plus the same key. The tool uses ECB mode with PKCS7 padding, which is the most common interoperable combination.
Why does decryption return an error instead of gibberish?
With a wrong key, block ciphers happily "decrypt" to random bytes. This tool checks the PKCS7 padding and UTF-8 validity of the result and refuses to show you noise — a small but useful sanity check.
Is my key or text uploaded?
No. Encryption and decryption run in your browser via a local library; the key and message never leave the page.