AES Crypt Significance compared to other tools

Discussion related to AES Crypt, the file encryption software for Windows, Linux, Mac, and Java.
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peaceseeker
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:16 am

AES Crypt Significance compared to other tools

Post by peaceseeker »

Hi All,

I'm new to encryption and all kind of this stuff, when I searched on internet I found this is one of the tools that was recommended along with others like 7-Zip, Peazip, Free Arc etc.

Could somebody help me to understand how this tool will be different when encrypting files with 7-Zip or Peazip which also supports AEA 256 bit?
My intention is not to compare and say some tools are superior to others but to understand where this tool excels as I wanted to use the best tool to encrypt my sensitive files before I save on cloud.

Thanks..
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paulej
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Re: AES Crypt Significance compared to other tools

Post by paulej »

I wrote AES Crypt, so I'll give my biased view. :)

At the time AES Crypt was written, I looked around for a good file encryption tool that was freely available. There really weren't a lot of options. I wanted something that's extremely easy to use on Windows. That performed a complex task as easily as copying and pasting a file.

I also wanted something that was documented and for which others could write compatible versions. There is now: different people wrote compatible versions in Java, C#, Python, Go, etc. and on Android and iOS. I also wanted something I knew would always be around.

Tools like 7-Zip are a little different than AES Crypt. They're primarily compression tools with encryption added. So the work flow isn't quite the same as just right-clicking on a file and selecting the "AES Encrypt" option. If one needs to create an archive with a bunch of files inside, including compressing an entire directory, then encrypting files as they're placed in the archive, 7-Zip, WinZip, Power Archiver, etc. are good choices.

I also use AES Crypt on Linux, and do so quite extensively. I back up all data on all machines I operate using AES Crypt as part of the process before then uploading to cloud storage. On Linux, it works like "cat" or other commands where one can pass a stream of bytes to it for encrypting or decrypting.

Significantly, all versions in all languages and platforms are compatible.
peaceseeker
Posts: 2
Joined: Mon Apr 30, 2018 9:16 am

Re: AES Crypt Significance compared to other tools

Post by peaceseeker »

Hi Paul,

Thank You so much for the response and making this tool.

Regards,
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