---
name: "sq-packet-dearmor"
section: "1"
platform: "linux"
package: "sequoia-sq"
version: "1.4.1-1"
release: "Arch Linux 2026-11-01"
platforms: ["linux"]
url: "https://new.carta.tech/sq-packet-dearmor"
---

# sq-packet-dearmor(1)

Convert ASCII to binary

## NAME

sq-packet-dearmor - Convert ASCII to binary

## SYNOPSIS

**sq packet dearmor** \[*OPTIONS*\] *FILE*

## DESCRIPTION

Convert ASCII to binary.

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

The converse operation is \`sq packet armor\`.

## OPTIONS

### Subcommand options

- **--output**=*FILE*

  Write to FILE or stdout if omitted

-

  \[default: **-**\]

- *FILE*

  Read from FILE or stdin if FILE is '-'

-

  \[default: **-**\]

### Global options

See [**sq**(1)](/sq/1.md) for a description of the global options.

## EXAMPLES

Convert an ASCII armored OpenPGP message to a binary OpenPGP message.

```
sq packet dearmor --output=message.bin message.pgp
```

## SEE ALSO

[**sq**(1)](/sq/1.md), [**sq-packet**(1)](/sq-packet/1.md).

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

## VERSION

1\.4.1