Public key viewer
To open a Public key file, drop it in the box below. It opens straight away, even with no extension or the wrong one. Your browser opens it on your device: nothing is uploaded.
What you see
| Public key in the viewer | |
|---|---|
| Fingerprints | SHA256:… and MD5:aa:bb:…, as ssh-keygen -l and -E md5 print them |
| Key types | RSA, ECDSA, Ed25519, DSA and security keys (sk-) |
| Files | Single keys, authorized_keys, known_hosts, RFC 4716, PEM |
| Next | Convert writes an OpenSSH key as PEM, and a key list as CSV |
| Extensions | .pub, .pem, .der |
| Upload | None: opened on your device |
What is a Public key file?
A public key file holds the half of a key pair you can share: an OpenSSH line such as id_ed25519.pub, an authorized_keys or known_hosts file, an SSH2 (RFC 4716) key, or a PEM public key.
Each key with its type and size, its fingerprint exactly as ssh-keygen -l prints it (SHA256 and MD5) and its comment. authorized_keys lines show their options; known_hosts lines show their hosts, with hashed host names marked. OpenSSH certificates show their principals, validity and the CA key that signed them.
How to open a Public key file
- Add your Public key. Drop the file in the box, choose it or paste it.
- Look at it. Each key with its type and size, its fingerprint exactly as ssh-keygen -l prints it (SHA256 and MD5) and its comment. authorized_keys lines show their options; known_hosts lines show their hosts, with hashed host names marked. OpenSSH certificates show their principals, validity and the CA key that signed them.
- Take it further. Open in hands it, in a new tab, to File converter.
Questions
Drop the .pub file here, or authorized_keys or known_hosts. Each key’s SHA256 fingerprint is shown as ssh-keygen -l prints it, so you can compare it with what a server shows.
OpenSSH can store host names as hashes so the file does not reveal which servers you use. The key and fingerprint are still shown; the name cannot be read back.
No. The viewer runs in your browser and opens the file on your device. Nothing is sent anywhere.