PPK to PEM Converter
Professional SSH key conversion tool
PPK to PEM
Paste or upload your PuTTY private key to convertkey.ppk
Key details will appear here after you paste or upload a PPK file
Tool Features
Comprehensive SSH key conversion with security focus
PPK to PEM Conversion
Convert PuTTY PPK keys to OpenSSH PEM format instantly
Secure Processing
Server-side conversion with automatic memory cleanup
Lightning Fast
Instant conversion with real-time progress tracking
Format Validation
Automatic key validation and error handling
How to Use This Tool
Moving from Windows/PuTTY to Linux, macOS, or AWS? Here's how to convert your key in 4 easy steps.
Get your PPK key
Open PuTTYgen on Windows, load your existing key or export it. You'll find .ppk files created by PuTTY or downloaded from cloud dashboards.
Paste or upload
Paste the PPK content directly into the text area, or use the Upload tab to select the .ppk file from your machine.
Convert
Click "Convert to PEM". If your key is passphrase-protected, enter it when prompted. The conversion runs server-side and the key is never stored.
Use on Linux / macOS / AWS
Download the PEM file. Use it with OpenSSH: ssh -i key.pem user@host. For AWS EC2, set permissions with chmod 400 key.pem first.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about PPK to PEM conversion.
The most common reasons are: (1) The file is not a valid PPK file — check it starts with "PuTTY-User-Key-File". (2) The key is passphrase-protected and you did not enter the passphrase, or entered it incorrectly. (3) The PPK file is corrupted or truncated.
A PPK (PuTTY Private Key) file is the format used by PuTTY and related Windows SSH tools (WinSCP, FileZilla) to store private SSH keys. The format is proprietary and not directly compatible with OpenSSH. PEM is the standard format used by OpenSSH, Linux, macOS, AWS, and most Unix-based tools.
PPK v2 uses HMAC-SHA-1 for key integrity and AES-256-CBC for passphrase encryption. PPK v3, introduced in PuTTY 0.75+, uses Argon2 (a memory-hard key derivation function) for passphrase protection, making brute-force attacks much harder. PPK v3 keys may not be supported by older tools like WinSCP or some CI/CD systems — if you encounter compatibility issues, re-save the key as PPK v2 using PuTTYgen.
This tool converts PPK private keys to OpenSSH PEM private keys. The corresponding public key is not a PPK file — it is usually stored as a plain text .pub file and does not need conversion. If you need the public key in OpenSSH format, use: ssh-keygen -y -f key.pem > key.pem.pub
Yes. Conversion runs on our server but the key is processed in memory only and never written to disk or logged. The file is discarded immediately after conversion. For maximum safety, you can also convert keys locally using the command: puttygen key.ppk -O private-openssh -o key.pem