# AES Encryption Guide

Encrypt and decrypt text with AES.

- Tool: https://ilham.dev/tools/aes-encryption/
- Guide URL: https://ilham.dev/guides/aes-encryption/
- Tool guides index: https://ilham.dev/guides/tools/
- Broader guide: Security and Cryptography Basics for Developers (https://ilham.dev/guides/security-cryptography-basics/)

## What it does

Encrypt and decrypt text with AES-GCM using a passphrase, with the key derived by PBKDF2. The output is a self-contained Base64 blob carrying the salt and the initialisation vector, so it can be decrypted later with the passphrase alone.

## Use the tool

Open https://ilham.dev/tools/aes-encryption/, add the input the tool asks for, run it, and check the output before using it elsewhere.

## Input and output

- Input: text.
- Output: text.
- Category: Crypto.

## Privacy and processing
Processing happens locally in your browser. This tool does not upload the input to ilham.dev.

## Questions

### Is this strong enough for real data?

AES-GCM and PBKDF2 are sound primitives and the construction is standard. What it cannot protect you from is a weak passphrase, or forgetting it — there is no recovery path.

### Why does the ciphertext change every time?

Because a fresh random salt and IV are generated for each encryption. The same plaintext and passphrase therefore produce a different blob, which is the intended behaviour.

### Is the passphrase sent anywhere?

No. Deriving the key and encrypting both happen in the browser.