If you walk away from your desk without locking your computer, or if a malefactor walks away with your entire laptop, your private documents are exposed. Did you think nobody would find out you’re thinking of changing jobs? Or of committing the perfect crime? Even if all your files are innocuous, do you want strangers pawing through them? Yeah, probably not. Fortunately, there’s a simple solution—protect your files by using an encryption utility. Which app is best for you depends on how you plan to store and share those documents. We’ve collected and analyzed a variety of such tools to help you make a smart choice.
Note that the apps covered here focus on protecting local copies of your important files. If your needs involve sharing secrets with others, you may want to consider using an email encryption tool instead of, or in addition to, a local encryption utility.
For an in-depth explanation of how encryption software works to keep you safe and how to choose the app that’s right for you, scroll down beyond the product descriptions below.
Deeper Dive: Our Top Tested Picks
AxCrypt Premium
Best for Easy Public Key Cryptography
Why We Picked It
Some encryption tools are easy to use, others are highly secure. A few, including AxCrypt Premium, hit both targets. You initialize it with a single strong master password, and it takes care of complex tasks like encrypting files using the US-government approved AES algorithm, and sharing those files using PKI (Public Key Interface) technology. Those with whom you share encrypted files need their own AxCrypt account, but they can make use of its free tier.
Editing files encrypted by other tools can be tough, often requiring you to decrypt the file, make your changes, and then encrypt again. AxCrypt makes the process seamless, automatically decrypting the file when you open it and encrypting it again after you close it. It even includes secure storage for your passwords, though it won’t capture and replay them like a full-on password manager. When you’re creating and saving a new account, AxCrypt can help with its free random password generator.
Who It’s For
You want to encrypt your files without having to pore through complicated instructions. You’re willing to pay an ongoing subscription to get the best combination of simplicity and power. That’s why AxCrypt Premium is the product for you.
PROS
- Easy to use
- Can easily edit encrypted files
- Secure sharing using public key cryptography
- Secure file deletion
- Supports Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS
CONS
- Can be risky if you don’t ensure local security of your PC
- Mobile editions can’t encrypt files, only decrypt
Learn More
Folder Lock
Best for Encryption Enthusiasts
Why We Picked It
The name Folder Lock suggests that this product simply locks folders behind an encryption system, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Folder Lock does have the ability to encrypt files and folders, and can even “lock” them without encryption (meaning it hides them from view by all other programs). But it can also create encrypted vaults, storage containers that look and act like an ordinary folder when open but become completely inaccessible when locks. For an extra fee, you can set up secure online backup and syncing.
It’s always important to securely delete unencrypted original files after encrypting them or putting them in secure storage. Folder Lock goes beyond that basic approach, allowing you to securely overwrite your drive’s empty space, effectively applying secure deletion to all deleted files. You can safely store credit cards and identity documents in its encrypted Wallet. It even provides a simple history cleaner, wiping out traces that a snoop could use to reconstruct your computer and browsing activities.
Who It’s For
You know you want to protect your files with encryption, but you’re not sure just what approach you’ll take. Folder Lock offers a smorgasbord of possibilities, so you can try everything and determine what works best for you.
PROS
- Encrypted lockers protect files and folders
- Secure online backup
- Can lock files and folders, making them invisible
- File shredding
- Free space shredding
- Self-decrypting files
- Many useful bonus features
CONS
- Product serial number stands in for master password by default
- Locked files are not encrypted
- Secure backup requires separate subscription
Learn More
Advanced Encryption Package
Best for Variety of Encryption Features
Why We Picked It
Many encryption utilities stick with the US-government approved AES encryption algorithm. Some offer a choice of AES or Blowfish. With Advanced Encryption Package, you can choose from 17 distinct encryption algorithms, vastly more than any competing product. You can use public-key cryptography to share encrypted items, though it’s up to you to manage the necessary key exchange. With this product you even get choices for secure deletion of unencrypted originals, more than a dozen, most of them military in origin.
This tool offers an unusual option to encrypt or decrypt the contents of the clipboard. Copy text to the clipboard, press the hotkey, and paste the encrypted result into an email or other messaging system. A password generator is built in, though without any associated password management. Admittedly, the user interface is seriously dated, with references to events and products that have been gone for 10-15 years. But it offers an amazingly broad selection of encryption options.
Who It’s For
You don’t just use encryption—you live and breathe it. Rather than making you confused, the availability of 17 encryption algorithms brings you joy. As for the program’s dated appearance, that just gives it added retro charm. And the ability to control it from the command line is icing on the cake.
PROS
- Offers 17 encryption algorithms
- Supports PKI
- Secure deletion
- Password generator
- Encrypts text to/from the clipboard
- Command-line operation
CONS
- Awkward, dated user interface
- Password generator doesn’t work well
- Some features described in Help system are absent
Learn More
NordLocker
Best for Ease of Use
Why We Picked It
The NordLocker encryption tool comes from the makers of NordVPN, an Editors’ Choice virtual private network. You use it to create lockers, encrypted storage containers that provide full access to files when open, but make them completely inaccessible when locked. Opening a free account doesn’t require a credit card and lets you create unlimited encrypted lockers on your local device. It also gets you 3GB of online storage for shareable cloud-based lockers. Subscribing at $2.99 per month (billed annually) raises your storage to 500GB and entitles you to priority tech support.
You can access your cloud lockers from the NordLocker app for Windows, macOS, Android, or iOS; you can also log in directly to the online cloud console. Sharing lockers with other NordLocker users, including users of the free edition, is a snap. You just send the locker to the recipient’s email address, and NordLocker takes care of encrypting the sent version with the recipient’s key.
Who It’s For
If you’re already a NordVPN enthusiast, using NordLocker for encryption is a no-brainer. Even if you’re not, it’s inexpensive (or free) and very easy to use.
PROS
- Very easy to use
- No limits on local encrypted storage
- Securely share encrypted files
- Advanced multi-factor authentication
- Free version available
CONS
- Secure deletion is Windows-only
- Some features absent from iOS app
Learn More
CryptoForge
Best for Encrypting Text
If encrypting your data once is good, encrypting it four times is even better, right? CryptoForge supports four encryption algorithms, AES, Blowfish, Triple DES, and the Soviet-era GOST. For each encryption activity, you can choose from one to four of these—multiple algorithms are applied sequentially. CryptoForge doesn’t have a big presence on your system; you mostly access it from the right-click menu or by using the command line.
This app also offers an unusual text-encryption ability. You create a document using its WYSIWYG editor (or important an RTF file), optionally add attachments, and click to encrypt. The result is an all-text encrypted document that you can use to transfer encrypted data via messaging systems that don’t support binary attachments. Don’t worry; the recipient can use CryptoForge’s free Decrypter tool to unlock what you sent.
Who It’s For
You want to buy your encryption tool once, learn its inner workings, and use it for a lifetime. Or you need to securely transmit encrypted files using a medium that doesn’t let you send binaries. Either way, CryptoForge has you covered.
PROS
- Can layer one to four encryption algorithms
- Simple, context-menu-based operation
- Can keep passphrase in memory
- Secure deletion
- Text encryption
- Filename encryption
CONS
- Passphrase memory can be a security risk for the careless
- Fewer features than some competitors
Learn More
Steganos Safe
Best for Steganography
Many personal encryption products work by creating a secure container, often called a vault or safe, for sensitive files. That’s how Steganos Safe works, but it brings an unusual amount of flexibility to safe creation. You can create local safes, of course, but you can also easily put a mobile safe on a USB drive. There’s a cloud safe option that supports Dropbox, Google Drive, and Microsoft OneDrive. You can even wipe an entire drive partition and make it into a safe.
Encryption hides the contents of your sensitive data; steganography hides the fact that there’s anything hidden. With safes below a certain size cutoff, Steganos can hide the safe inside a video, audio, or executable file. There’s also a slightly risky option to hide a safe inside of an existing safe. If you’re looking to put your files into encrypted storage, Steganos Safe offers a vast set of variations.
Who It’s For
If a snoop or spy doesn’t even know that you’ve hidden sensitive files, there’s no way they’ll get hold of them. Even if you don’t require that level of protection, Steganos Safe offers more variations on encrypted storage than the rest.
PROS
- Many options for encrypted file storage
- Easy to use
- Two-factor authentication
- Can hide existence of encrypted files
- Multi-faceted file shredder
- Price includes five licenses
CONS
- Portable encryption requires driver installation
- Safe-in-a-safe feature risks data loss
Learn More
CryptoExpert
Best for Portable Encryption
Why We Picked It
CryptoExpert has one focus—creation of secured storage vaults for your sensitive files. You can create as many vaults as you need, and it’s easy to transfer vaults between different machines. For multi-factor authentication, you can put a vault’s password on a USB key and also require entry of the password. There are few options and settings, meaning the learning curve is shallow.
Who It’s For
You don’t want to devote time to learning a powerful-but-complicated encryption tool’s capabilities. You just want to put your files in encrypted storage and easily move them between devices. Paying just once for a lifetime license is a nice bonus.
PROS
- Creates secure storage for sensitive files
- Easy to use
- Two-factor authentication
CONS
- Lacks secure deletion
- Displayed some odd error messages in testing
Learn More
Cypherix Cryptainer PE
Best for Sharing Encrypted Files
Why We Picked It
As the name Cryptainer suggests, Cypherix Cryptainer PE creates encrypted containers for your files. You pay a one-time fee for a perpetual license. If you can live with limited tech support and 100MB size limit on your encrypted vaults, you can use it for free. There’s an option to put the mobile edition, along with an encrypted vault, on a USB drive, for totally portable security.
Sharing a vault with another user, even a free user, is a simple matter of sending the vault file and transmitting the password using a different medium, perhaps an encrypted messaging tool. While it’s not emphasized, this tool also has the ability to encrypt individual files and folders, and to create self-decrypting EXEs from these.
Who It’s For
You want secure encrypted storage for your important documents, and you’re willing to endure a few limitations to get it for free.
PROS
- Creates secure encrypted volumes
- Password quality meter
- Can share volumes
- Mobile edition
- Can encrypt files and folders for email
CONS
- Secure deletion doesn’t handle unencrypted originals
- Complicated creation of secure volumes, especially after the first
- Expensive for what it does
Learn More
Cypherix SecureIT
Best for Simple Encryption
Why We Picked It
This simple tool encrypts and decrypts files and folders, with optional compression. For added security during password entry, it offers a virtual keyboard. It optionally creates self-extracting executables, handy for sharing. And secure deletion of originals is built into the process. If you’re an old-time DOS box whiz, you can control it from the command line.
Who It’s For
You want to protect your files and folders by running them through the encryption process and securely deleting the originals. You don’t want the confusion of a bunch of other features. And you’re pleased with an inexpensive one-time fee for a perpetual license.
PROS
- Encrypts files and folders with optional compression
- Includes secure deletion
- Straightforward user interface
- Self-decrypting EXE option
CONS
- No filename encryption
- Lacks advanced features
Learn More
Buying Guide: The Best Encryption Software for 2023
File Encryption, Whole-Disk Encryption, and
VPNs
In this roundup, we’re specifically looking at products that encrypt files rather than whole-disk solutions like Microsoft Bitlocker. Whole-disk encryption is an effective line of defense for a single device, but it doesn’t help when you need to share encrypted data.
You can use a virtual private network, or VPN, to encrypt your internet traffic. From your PC to the VPN company’s server, all your data is encrypted, and that’s a great thing. However, unless you’re connected to a secure HTTPS website, your traffic is not encrypted between the VPN server and the site. Of course, the VPN’s encryption doesn’t just magically rub off on files you share. Using a VPN is a great way to protect your internet traffic when you’re traveling, but it’s not a solution for encrypting your local files.
It’s Surprisingly Easy to Be More Secure Online
No Back Doors
When the FBI needed information from the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, they asked Apple for a back door to get past the encryption. But no such back door existed, and Apple refused to create one. The FBI had to hire hackers to get into the phone.
Why wouldn’t Apple help? Because the moment a back door or similar hack exists, it becomes a target, a prize for the bad guys. It will leak sooner or later. As my colleague Max Eddy pointed out in a past article about one-time Attorney General Barr’s ignorance of encryption, “A back door is still a door and even a door with a lock on it can be opened.”
All the products in this roundup explicitly state that they have no back door, and that’s as it should be. It does mean that if you encrypt an essential document and then forget the encryption password, you’ve lost it for good, however.
Two Main Approaches
Back in the day, if you wanted to keep a document secret you could use a cipher to encrypt it and then burn the original. Or you could lock it up in a safe. The two main approaches in encryption utilities parallel these options.
One type of product simply processes files and folders, turning them into impenetrable encrypted versions of themselves. The other creates a virtual disk drive that, when open, acts like any other drive on your system. When you lock the virtual drive, all the files you put into it are completely inaccessible.
As with the virtual drive solution, some products store your encrypted data in the cloud. This approach requires extreme care. Encrypted data in the cloud has a much bigger attack surface than encrypted data on your PC.
Which is better? It depends on how you plan to use encryption. If you’re not sure, take advantage of the free trial offered by each of these products to get a feel for the different options.
Secure Those Originals
After you copy a file into secure storage or create an encrypted version of it, you absolutely need to wipe the unencrypted original. Just deleting it isn’t sufficient, even if you bypass the Recycle Bin, because the data still exists on disk, and forensic data recovery utilities can often get it back. These days, Windows 10 and 11 both have file recovery built in.
Some encryption products avoid this problem by encrypting the file in place, literally overwriting it on disk with an encrypted version. It’s more common, though, to offer secure deletion as an option. If you choose a product that lacks this feature, you should find a free secure deletion tool to use along with it.
Overwriting data before deletion is sufficient to balk software-based recovery tools. Hardware-based forensic recovery works because the magnetic recording of data on a hard drive isn’t actually digital. It’s more of a waveform. In simple terms, the process involves nulling out the known data and reading around the edges of what’s left. If you think someone (the feds?) might use this technique to recover your incriminating files, you can set your secure deletion tool to make more passes, overwriting the data beyond what even these techniques can recover.
Encryption Algorithms
An encryption algorithm is like a black box. Dump a document, image, or other file into it, and you get back what seems like gibberish. Run that gibberish back through the box, with the right password, and you get back the original.
The U.S. government has settled on Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) as a standard, and all the products gathered here support AES. Even those that support other algorithms tend to recommend using AES.
If you’re an encryption expert, you may prefer another algorithm, Blowfish, perhaps, or the Soviet government’s GOST. For the average user, however, AES is just fine.
Public Key Cryptography and Sharing
Passwords are important, and you have to keep them secret, right? Well, not when you use Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) cryptography.
With PKI, you get two keys. One is public; you can share it with anyone, register it in a key exchange, tattoo it on your forehead—whatever you like. The other is private and should be closely guarded. If I want to send you a secret document, I simply encrypt it with your public key. When you receive it, your private key decrypts it. Simple!
Using this system in reverse, you can create a digital signature that proves your document came from you and hasn’t been modified. How? Just encrypt it with your private key. The fact that your public key decrypts it is all the proof you need. PKI support is less common than support for traditional symmetric algorithms.
If you want to share a file with someone and your encryption tool doesn’t support PKI, there are other options for sharing. Many products allow the creation of a self-decrypting executable file. You may also find that the recipient can use a free, decryption-only tool.
What’s the Best Encryption App?
Right now, there are two Editors’ Choice products in the consumer-accessible encryption field. One is the easiest to use of the bunch, the other is the most comprehensive.
AxCrypt Premium has a sleek, modern look, and when it’s active you’ll hardly notice it. Files in its Secured Folders get encrypted automatically when you sign out, and it’s one of the few that support public key cryptography.
Folder Lock can either encrypt files or simply lock them so nobody can access them. It also offers encrypted lockers for secure storage. Among its many other features are file shredding, free space shredding, secure online backup, and self-decrypting files.
The other products here also have their merits, of course. Read the summaries above and then click through to the full reviews to decide which one you’ll use to protect your files. Have an opinion on one of the apps reviewed here, or a favorite tool we didn’t mention? Let us know in the comments.
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