Certificate File Formats Supported on Windows

Q

What are certificate file formats supported on Windows? Are PKCS#12, PKCS#7, DER are PEM are valid certificate file formats on Windows?

✍: FYIcenter.com

A

Certificate import and export operations support four file formats on Windows systems. Choose the format that meets your specific requirements.

Personal Information Exchange (PKCS #12): The Personal Information Exchange format (PFX, also called PKCS #12) supports secure storage of certificates, private keys, and all certificates in a certification path. The PKCS #12 format is the only file format that can be used to export a certificate and its private key.

Cryptographic Message Syntax Standard (PKCS #7): The PKCS #7 format supports storage of certificates and all certificates in the certification path.

DER-encoded binary X.509: The Distinguished Encoding Rules (DER) format supports storage of a single certificate. This format does not support storage of the private key or certification path.

Base64-encoded X.509 (PEM): The Base64 (PEM) format supports storage of a single certificate. This format does not support storage of the private key or certification path.

2012-07-19, 5314👍, 0💬