226

How do I create an encrypted (password protected) zip file?

David Oneill
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9 Answers9

276

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.

Akhil
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Pete Ashdown
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55

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.

igi
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Jonathan
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35

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 7zip
  • a: Append? / Adding files? (e for extraction)
  • -tzip: Use .zip format instead of default .7z
  • -p: specify a password for encryption
  • -mem=AES256: Use AES256 encryption
  • foo_file.zip: Name of .zip file
  • foo_folder: Name of folder to encrypt

Answer based on: https://www.tecmint.com/7zip-command-examples-in-linux/

sehe
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NumesSanguis
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32

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.

alt text

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

Ramón
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6
sudo apt-get install zip
zip -r --encrypt result.zip folder
  1. Install zip
  2. Use -r to zip directory and subdirectory

  3. Use --encrypt to secure your files

    with a simple password-based symmetric encryption system, which is documented in the ZIP specification

    Wikipedia

jschnasse
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  • 2
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2

Encrypt

gpg -c your.zip

creates your.zip.gpg

Decrypt:

gpg your.zip.gpg

To turn off password caching

More details including directories.

https://superuser.com/a/249516/27275

crizCraig
  • 183
2

The metadata (filenames) of an encrypted zip can be read with unzip -l

https://security.stackexchange.com/questions/186878/can-the-content-of-a-password-protected-zip-file-be-known

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.

cardamom
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2

Here's a simple way of compressing by encrypting and extracting by decrypting.

You can use the following to compress zip -er output.zip <folder_to_compress>.

It will prompt you for a password. Enter password.

To decrypt/extract use unzip <output.zip>.

csgeek
  • 121
1

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'

Matthias Braun
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