How to Encrypt and Decrypt Text with AES-256: Step-by-Step Guide

Encrypting Your Text

1. Type or paste the text you want to encrypt.
2. Choose a passphrase. This is what protects your ciphertext — treat it with the same care as a real password.
3. Encrypt. The tool produces an encrypted block of text (ciphertext) that reveals nothing about your original message without the correct passphrase.
4. Share the ciphertext through your intended channel — email, chat, wherever you need to send it.

Decrypting It Again

1. Paste the ciphertext into the decrypt field.
2. Enter the exact same passphrase used to encrypt it.
3. Decrypt to recover the original text.

What Happens With the Wrong Passphrase

Decryption with an incorrect passphrase doesn't produce a garbled-but-readable approximation of your original text — it fails outright, or produces meaningless output that bears no resemblance to the original. This is expected: AES doesn't "partially" decrypt based on how close a guess is. Either the passphrase is exactly right, or the decryption doesn't recover anything usable.

The One Critical Rule

The passphrase itself is never stored anywhere by the tool — it exists only in your input at the moment you type it. This means there is no "forgot my passphrase" recovery option, by design: if you lose it, the encrypted text is permanently unrecoverable. Keep your passphrase somewhere safe, separate from the ciphertext itself.