---
name: "sq-armor"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "sq"
version: "0.27.0-2+b1"
release: "Debian 12 (Bookworm)"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sq-armor"
---

# sq-armor(1)

Converts binary to ASCII

## NAME

armor - Converts binary to ASCII

## SYNOPSIS

**armor** \[**-o**\|**--output**\] \[**--label**\] \[**-h**\|**--help**\] \[*FILE*\]

## DESCRIPTION

Converts binary to ASCII

To make encrypted data easier to handle and transport, OpenPGP data can be transformed to an ASCII representation called ASCII Armor.  sq emits armored data by default, but this subcommand can be used to convert existing OpenPGP data to its ASCII-encoded representation.

The converse operation is "sq dearmor".

## OPTIONS

- **-o**, **--output**=*FILE*

  Writes to FILE or stdout if omitted

- **--label**=*LABEL* \[default: auto\] \[possible values: auto, message, cert, key, sig, file\]

  Selects the kind of armor header

- **-h**, **--help**

  Print help information

- \[*FILE*\]

  Reads from FILE or stdin if omitted

## EXAMPLES

 Convert a binary certificate to ASCII

```
 sq armor binary-juliet.pgp
```

 Convert a binary message to ASCII

```
 sq armor binary-message.pgp
```

## SEE ALSO

For the full documentation see \<https://docs.sequoia-pgp.org/sq/\>.

[sq(1)](/sq/1.md) [sq-autocrypt(1)](/sq-autocrypt/1.md) [sq-certify(1)](/sq-certify/1.md) [sq-dearmor(1)](/sq-dearmor/1.md) [sq-decrypt(1)](/sq-decrypt/1.md) [sq-encrypt(1)](/sq-encrypt/1.md) [sq-inspect(1)](/sq-inspect/1.md) [sq-key(1)](/sq-key/1.md) [sq-keyring(1)](/sq-keyring/1.md) [sq-keyserver(1)](/sq-keyserver/1.md) [sq-packet(1)](/sq-packet/1.md) [sq-revoke(1)](/sq-revoke/1.md) [sq-sign(1)](/sq-sign/1.md) [sq-verify(1)](/sq-verify/1.md) [sq-wkd(1)](/sq-wkd/1.md)