Protect PDF
Encrypt your PDF with a password and choose what others may do with it. Your file never leaves your device — it is processed in your browser.
Password-protect a PDF
Set an open password, optionally an owner password, and choose the permissions.
Keep your password safe — a forgotten password cannot be recovered by anyone. Your PDF and password stay on this device.
Your file is ready
How it works
Choose your PDF
Select or drop the document you want to secure.
Set a password
Type the password needed to open it and pick the permissions.
Download
Save the encrypted PDF and share it safely.
About the Protect PDF tool
Protect PDF adds a password to your document so that only people who know it can open it. The file is encrypted with AES-256, the strongest standard encryption supported by PDF readers such as Adobe Acrobat, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, macOS Preview and mobile apps. An AES-128 option is available for very old readers.
You can also set an owner password and restrict what readers may do once the file is open: prevent printing, copying text and images, or editing the document. Permissions are honoured by mainstream PDF readers; the open password itself is what really keeps strangers out, so choose one that is long and hard to guess.
Your file never leaves your device — it is processed in your browser. To do the encryption, the page downloads the open-source @cantoo/pdf-lib library from the jsDelivr CDN; only that program code is downloaded — your PDF and your password are never sent anywhere.
What you get
AES-256 encryption
Strong, standard PDF encryption.
Owner password
Separate password for full control.
Permissions
Allow or block printing, copying and editing.
Never uploaded
File and password stay on your device.