PEM or Privacy Enhanced Mail is a Base64 encoded DER certificate. PEM certificates are frequently used for web servers as they can easily be translated into readable data using a simple text editor. Generally when a PEM encoded file is opened in a text editor, it contains very distinct headers and footers.

What is the .PEM file used for?

PEM files are used to store SSL certificates and their associated private keys. Multiple certificates are in the full SSL chain, and they work in this order: The end-user certificate, which is assigned to your domain name by a certificate authority (CA). This is the file you use in nginx and Apache to encrypt HTTPS.

Is .PEM and .CRT the same?

1 Answer. Those file names represent different parts of the key generation and verification process. Please note that the names are just convention, you could just as easily call the files pepperoni. pizza and the content will be the same, so do be conscious of how you use the filenames.