Key Formats

XML Security Library: Key Formats Report

XML Security library supports the following key, certificate, and CRL formats:

XMLSec Cryptographic Libraries key formats

Format	XMLSec with OpenSSL	XMLSec with NSS	XMLSec with GnuTLS	XMLSec with MSCng	XMLSec with MSCrypto	XMLSec with GCrypt
Private keys
PKCS12	Yes	Yes (1)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
PKCS8 (PEM)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
PKCS8 (DER)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Unencrypted keys (PEM)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Unencrypted keys (DER)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes (2)
Public keys
Public keys from X509 certificates (PEM)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
Public keys from X509 certificates (DER)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Standalone keys (PEM)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
Standalone keys (DER)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes (2)
X509
X509 certificates (PEM)	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No
X509 certificates (DER)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
X509 CRLs (PEM)	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	No
X509 CRLs (DER)	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No

Notes

1. NSS cannot import EdDSA private keys from PKCS#12 files; use unencrypted PKCS#8 DER format instead
2. The xmlsec-gcrypt library only supports a limited subset of unencrypted private keys and standalone public keys in DER format.