Extract text from Security certificates (PEM)
To convert PEM Certificates to another format, you need OpenSSL or other Web software.
To convert other file formats to the "Security Certificate" file type, you need software like OpenSSL or a similar tool.
The .pem file format is a Base64-encoded text container used to store cryptographic keys, SSL/TLS certificates, and certificate signing requests. Originally developed for the Privacy-Enhanced Mail standard, it is now the de facto certificate format used by OpenSSL and web servers like Apache and Nginx.
To view or edit a .pem file, you can use any plain text editor such as Notepad++. However, interpreting the cryptographic data inside requires command-line tools like OpenSSL or graphical interfaces like Keystore Explorer.
The primary disadvantage of the .pem format is platform incompatibility. While Linux and Apache web servers natively use .pem, many enterprise systems refuse to read it. Microsoft IIS servers require PFX or CER formats, while Java-based applications demand JKS or .PKCS12 keystores. Furthermore, because .pem files are text-based, manually copying and pasting the raw certificate data often introduces invisible whitespace or line-break errors that silently break SSL configurations.
To deploy certificates across different infrastructure, you must convert them. For Windows Server IIS, convert to PFX (which securely bundles the certificate and private key). For legacy binary systems, convert to DER. For standard Windows certificate managers, converting to CRT or CER is necessary. Drop your file here to view and convert it securely right in your browser.
Convert.Guru analyzes your PEM file, detects the exact format, and lets you read the text inside.
Users also converted CRT, PDF, PPK, CER, CSR, SSH, DER, PFX, P12, JPG, PUB, ZIP and PEMX files.
If you want to convert PEM file to CRT, PFX, PPK, CER, P12, JKS, DER, KEY, HTML, HTM, CSS or JS, you can use OpenSSL or similar software from the "Cryptographic Certificate Container" category. In the File menu, look for Save As… or Export….
To convert RSS, CSS, CGI, SITEMAP, PL, WEBMANIFEST, JSON, JS, XML, HTML, ICO or HTM files to PEM, try OpenSSL or another comparable tool in the "Cryptographic Certificate Container" category.
The history of Convert.Guru began over 25 years ago in California with Tom Simondi’s file-format database. A former contributor to Space Shuttle development and a software pioneer of the 1980s, Simondi established a trusted resource for file type analysis that was even referenced by Microsoft Windows XP. Today, we use modern technology to process and convert thousands of file formats while continually improving our PEM converter.