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Cryptography

Encrypt text with Triple DES (3DES)

Triple DES Encrypt applies the 3DES-EDE cipher, three DES passes per block, to your text using a passphrase. It is for developers reconciling legacy systems such as bank feeds, card-data fixtures and old payment files that still speak 3DES, and need test ciphertext that matches openssl enc -des-ede3-cbc with the legacy key derivation. The output is OpenSSL-style salted Base64 starting with U2FsdGVkX1, and the random salt makes every run differ for the same input and passphrase.

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How to use Triple DES Encrypt

  1. Open Triple DES Encrypt in the Toolbox101 app.
  2. Type or paste the text you need encrypted into the Message box.
  3. Type the passphrase into the Passphrase box. The tool derives the 24-byte 3DES key from it, so the same phrase is needed to decrypt.
  4. Read the ciphertext in the Output box; it updates as you type and is salted Base64 beginning with U2FsdGVkX1.
  5. Click Copy to take the ciphertext, and keep the passphrase somewhere separate.

Worked example

Triple DES Encrypt gives a different result every time, so yours will differ. This is one run:

Input

3DES round-trip works

Key

3des-demo-key

Output

U2FsdGVkX1/4bJgBgk56umGAiPv8orYRAgN17dTpYiIeZB+/7As0MA==

Frequently asked questions

What is Triple DES, and why is it still around?

Triple DES runs the DES block cipher three times per block, encrypt-decrypt-encrypt, with a 24-byte key derived here from your passphrase. It has 64-bit blocks and was the banking standard for decades, so payment systems still reference it. NIST has deprecated it, but legacy data keeps decrypting fine.

Is 3DES secure enough for new data?

No. NIST disallowed Triple DES for new encryption after 2023, leaving it for decrypting existing data. Its 64-bit block size makes it vulnerable to birthday-bound attacks on large volumes of data. For anything new, use the AES Encrypt tool instead.

Can OpenSSL decrypt ciphertext from this tool?

Yes, with the legacy derivation: openssl enc -d -des-ede3-cbc -a -A -md md5 -pass pass:YOURPASSPHRASE. The tool derives the key with OpenSSL's MD5-based EVP_BytesToKey at one iteration, matching what older openssl enc versions did by default. Without -md md5 a modern OpenSSL derives the key differently and decryption fails.

Why does the same input produce different ciphertext each time?

Each run picks a random 8-byte salt and stores it in the output, after the ASCII marker Salted__. The derived key changes with the salt, so the same message and passphrase never encrypt to the same string twice, and any output decrypts correctly.

Use Triple DES Encrypt now

Open Triple DES Encrypt in the app

Runs in your browser. Nothing you type is uploaded.