Password protect a PDF
Add a password to a PDF so it cannot be opened without one, and optionally stop it being printed or copied. The encryption happens on your own device, so neither the file nor the password ever leaves it. Your files are never uploaded — everything runs on your device.
Your PDF
Drop a PDF here — or click to choose
PDFYour files are never uploaded — everything runs on your device.
This removes a password you already know, and removes restrictions that need no password. It cannot recover a password you have forgotten.
What to do
Your file
How to password protect a PDF
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Open your PDF
Drag and drop the PDF, or click to choose it. Nothing is uploaded — the encryption runs here in the browser.
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Choose a password
This is the password anyone will need to open the file. Pick something you can share with the people who should read it, by a route other than the same email as the document.
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Protect & download
You get an encrypted copy. The original on your machine is untouched, so nothing is lost if you mistype the password.
What you can do
Merge & split
Combine several PDFs into one, or pull out just the pages you need and download them as a separate file.
PNG to PDF, JPG to PDF
Drop in PNG or JPG images and each one becomes a PDF page you can arrange alongside your documents, then download as a single PDF.
PDF to PNG, PDF to JPG
Go the other way too: render each page (or just the ones you select) to PNG or JPG and download them together as a ZIP.
Rearrange PDF pages
Drag a page by its handle to move it. Works with a mouse and with touch, so you can reorder pages on your phone too.
Rotate & auto-orient
Turn any page 90° at a time, or let Auto-rotate detect sideways and upside-down scans and straighten them for you.
Preview any page
Click a page to open a crisp full-size preview and step through the document before you download.
Delete & extract
Remove pages you do not need, or extract a range by selecting pages and downloading only the selection.
Reduce the file size
Make a PDF smaller: a lossless re-save that keeps selectable text, or a stronger image setting for scans and image-heavy files.
Private and free
No accounts, no page limits, no watermarks. Your files are never uploaded — every operation runs locally in your browser.
Frequently asked questions
- What kind of encryption is used?
- AES-256, applied by qpdf running as WebAssembly on your own device. It is the same encryption Acrobat and every mainstream PDF reader understand, so the protected file opens anywhere — it simply asks for the password first.
- Can you see my password?
- No. The password never leaves the page: it is passed straight to the encryption running in your browser and is not sent anywhere, stored, or logged. That is a consequence of where the work happens, not a policy we are asking you to trust.
- What if I forget it?
- Then the file cannot be opened, by us or by anyone else. That is the point of encrypting it. Our unlock tool removes a password you already know — it cannot recover one you have forgotten, and neither can anything else worth trusting.
- Can I stop people printing or copying instead?
- Yes, those are separate restrictions and you can set them alongside a password. Be aware of what they are worth: restrictions are honoured by well-behaved readers rather than enforced by mathematics, so they discourage casual copying but do not make a document secret. Only the open password does that.
- Are my PDFs uploaded to a server?
- No. Every operation runs entirely in your browser on your own device. Your files are never uploaded anywhere, and nothing is stored once you close the tab.
- Is it really free? Are there limits?
- Yes, it is completely free with no account required. There are no page or file-count limits and no watermarks — because the work happens on your device, there is nothing for us to meter.