View PEM files in your browser
The text form of certificates and keys, between BEGIN and END lines, that servers and OpenSSL use. See what each block holds, right here, without a terminal. Nothing leaves your device.
Or drop it anywhere on this page
What you'll see
Your certificate opens as a card: who it's for, who issued it, its dates and its chain.
- Its chain • Checked against the roots Filepeek carries
- Valid from and until • The days it has
- Every name it covers • Domains and emails
- SHA-256 and SHA-1 fingerprints • Copy with a click
About PEM
PEM began in 1993 as Privacy-Enhanced Mail, and its way of writing binary data as base64 between BEGIN and END lines outlived it. Web servers, OpenSSL, Let's Encrypt and Kubernetes keep certificates, chains, requests and keys in .pem files, and in .key, .crt and .csr files written the same way.
One file can hold many blocks: a server's certificate and its intermediates, a private key, a certificate request or a revocation list. A private key may be locked with a password, and OpenSSH's keys are text of their own.
Filepeek shows each certificate as a card with its subject, issuer, dates, names, key and fingerprints, and checks the chain the file holds against the roots it carries. A private key shows only its kind and size, never the key itself, and a locked one asks for its password, which stays on your device.
PEM certificates and keys
.pem
Format
- MIME type
- application/x-pem-file
- Made by
- The IETF
- Released
- 1993
Inside the file
- Holds
- Certificates, keys, requests and CRLs
- Blocks
- Base64 between BEGIN and END lines
- Often
- A certificate and its chain
- Markup
- Plain text
Opens in every browser
Browsers download PEM files or show them as text. Filepeek reads every block in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari.
- YouChromeOpens through Filepeek
- YouEdgeOpens through Filepeek
- YouFirefoxOpens through Filepeek
- YouSafariOpens through Filepeek
Questions
How do I open a PEM file?
Drop it on this page or press Peek a PEM. Each certificate, request and key it holds shows on a card, the certificates linked to the ones that issued them.
Is it safe to open a private key here?
The key never leaves your device, and Filepeek shows only its kind and size, never the key itself or its text. A locked key asks for its password, which stays on your device.
My .key or .pub file is a key. Does it open?
Yes. A .key in PEM opens as a key, and an SSH .pub as a public key with its fingerprint, whatever Keynote and Publisher use those names for.
Is my file uploaded?
No. The file opens inside your browser and never leaves your device.