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RC4 Encrypt

Encrypt or decrypt text with the RC4 stream cipher.

Note: RC4 is a symmetric stream cipher. On encrypt, plaintext is converted to hex and the output is hex ciphertext; on decrypt, paste the hex ciphertext. RC4 is deprecated for new use — prefer ChaCha20 or AES.

What Is a RC4 Encrypt?

The RC4 Encrypt tool encrypts and decrypts text with the RC4 (ARC4) stream cipher. RC4 is a widely deployed cipher historically used in WEP, TLS, and PDF encryption, and it is still supported by many legacy systems. This free online tool is useful for RC4 encryption tool, RC4 decoder, ARC4 online. Common use cases include legacy systems, historical data recovery, interoperability testing, and cryptography education. It is designed for quick browser-based hashing, encoding, decoding, encryption testing, checksum comparison, identifier generation, and cryptography education. For production security, follow the algorithm's current standards, key-management requirements, and application-specific security guidance.

How to Use This RC4 Encrypt

  1. 1
    Choose the algorithm or modeSelect the encryption method supported by the tool.
  2. 2
    Enter the required key materialProvide the password, key, and nonce/IV in the format requested.
  3. 3
    Enter the dataPaste plaintext for encryption or ciphertext for decryption.
  4. 4
    Run the operationThe browser performs the cryptographic transformation locally.
  5. 5
    Verify the resultFor real applications, follow the algorithm's nonce, key-management, authentication, and interoperability requirements.

Frequently Asked Questions

No. RC4 has significant biases that allow recovering the plaintext from enough ciphertext, and it is banned in TLS 1.3 and RFC 7465. Use ChaCha20 or AES instead.
Legacy protocols and old file formats still reference it. This tool helps with decryption of historical data and education.

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