Password protect a PDF

Lock a PDF with a password before you send it. The encryption happens in your browser, so the open, unprotected copy never leaves your device.

On your deviceFree

or drop it here

Accepts PDF

Uploads from this page: 0On your device. What this means

Protect PDF at a glance

Protect PDF is a free tool that adds a password to a PDF with AES-256 encryption, so nobody can open it without that password. You can also turn off printing, copying or editing. It runs in your browser, so the readable copy is never uploaded. Keep the password safe, because Wispdf cannot recover it.

Limits · Files up to 1 GB each · One file at a time · Free and unlimited, no account needed

Last updated October 19, 2026

How to use Protect PDF

Add your PDF
Choose the file or drop it on the page. It opens in your browser, not on our servers.
Set a password
Type a password you will remember. Turn off printing, copying or editing if you want to.
Save the locked copy
Press Protect PDF and download the file. Share the password separately, by text or phone.

What Protect PDF does

Password protecting a PDF means encrypting it so nobody can open it without the password you set. Wispdf does this with AES-256 encryption right in your browser, so the readable copy is never uploaded. You can also turn off printing, copying or editing for the people who do open it. Keep the password somewhere safe, because we cannot recover it for you.

People use it to

Send your tax return to an accountant with a password on it
Share offer letters from HR so only the new hire can open them
Lock a scanned passport copy before you store it on a shared drive

What's included

AES-256 encryption

Your file is locked with AES-256, a strong and widely used encryption standard.

Choose permissions

Decide whether people who open the file can print it, copy text from it or edit it.

Encrypted on your device

Encryption happens in your browser before you save, so the unprotected copy is never uploaded.

Free, no account

Protect as many PDFs as you like. No sign-up and no daily limit.

Where your file goes

Protect PDF runs entirely on your device. Your file and your password never leave your browser, so the unprotected copy never travels anywhere.

On your deviceFree and unlimited, no account needed.

How privacy works at Wispdf

Questions about Protect PDF

Is Protect PDF free?

Yes. Protect PDF is free and unlimited, and you do not need an account. Because the encryption runs on your device, there is no daily cap and no limit on how many files you protect. The practical limit is your device's memory, which is comfortably around 1 GB of PDFs on a computer and less on a phone.

Do you upload my PDF to add the password?

No. Protect PDF encrypts your file inside your browser, on your own device. The PDF and the password you type are never sent to our servers. That matters here, because the readable copy is the one you most want to keep private, and with Wispdf it never travels.

What do the printing, copying and editing options do?

They set what people can do after opening the file with the password: print it, copy text from it, or make changes. Turn off any of the three you want to block. Most PDF apps honor these settings, though they rely on the reader's app following them. The password itself is the part that keeps the file closed.

I forgot the password to my protected PDF. Can you recover it?

No, and nobody at Wispdf can. Your password never reaches us, so we have no copy to look up, and AES-256 encryption is built so the file cannot be opened without it. Before you save, write the password down somewhere safe, such as a password manager. It also helps to keep an unprotected original in a private place.

Can I password protect a PDF on my iPhone or Android phone?

Yes. Protect PDF works in any modern browser on iPhone, iPad, Android, Chromebook, Windows, Mac and Linux. There is no app to install. Open the page, choose your PDF, set a password and save. On a phone, the practical file size limit is lower than on a computer, since the work happens in your phone's own memory.

How should I share the password with the person getting the file?

Send it a different way from the file itself. If you email the PDF, share the password by text message or a phone call. That way, someone who gets into one account does not get both. Pick a password that is long and hard to guess, and avoid one you already use for anything else.