Libgcrypt

---

title: "Libgcrypt" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cryptographic-software", "free-security-software", "gnu-project-software", "openpgp", "2020-software"] description: "Cryptographic software library" topic_path: "general/cryptographic-software" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Libgcrypt" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Cryptographic software library ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox software"]

Field	Value
name	Libgcrypt
ver layout	stacked
developer	GnuPG community
author	Werner Koch
programming language	C
operating system	Cross-platform
genre	Cryptographic library
license	GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv2.1+) / GNU General Public License (GPLv2+){{cite web
url	https://gnupg.org/software/libgcrypt/index.html#sec-1-2
title	Copying
work	Libgcrypt
date	2021-02-04
accessdate	2021-02-09}}
website
::

| name = Libgcrypt | logo = | screenshot = | caption = | ver layout = stacked | developer = GnuPG community | author = Werner Koch | programming language = C | operating system = Cross-platform | genre = Cryptographic library | license = GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPLv2.1+) / GNU General Public License (GPLv2+){{cite web | url=https://gnupg.org/software/libgcrypt/index.html#sec-1-2 | title=Copying | work=Libgcrypt | date=2021-02-04 | accessdate=2021-02-09}} | website = Libgcrypt is a cryptography library developed as a separated module of GnuPG.{{cite mailing list | last=Koch | first=Werner | url=https://lists.gnupg.org/pipermail/gnupg-devel/1998-December/015041.html | title=libgcrypt | publisher=gnupg-devel | date=1998-12-04 | accessdate=2017-08-30}} It can also be used independently of GnuPG, but depends on its error-reporting library Libgpg-error.{{cite web | url=https://gnupg.org/software/libgpg-error/index.html | title=Libgpg-error | work=GnuPG software | date=2017-03-22 | accessdate=2017-12-13}}

It provides functions for all fundamental cryptographic building blocks:

::data[format=table]

Primitive or Operation	Algorithms or Implementation{{cite web
url=https://git.gnupg.org/cgi-bin/gitweb.cgi?p=libgcrypt.git;a=blob;f=src/cipher.h;hb=HEAD	title=src/cipher.h
symmetric ciphers:{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Available-ciphers.html
cipher modes:{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Available-cipher-modes.html
public key algorithms:{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Available-algorithms.html
hash algorithms:{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Available-hash-algorithms.html
message authentication codes (MACs):{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Available-MAC-algorithms.html
key derivation functions (KDFs):{{cite web	url=https://www.gnupg.org/documentation/manuals/gcrypt/Key-Derivation.html
elliptic curves:	NIST (P-256, P-384, P-521), SECG (secp256k1), ECC Brainpool / (P256r1, P384r1, P512r1), Bernstein (Curve25519, Curve448), GOST R 34.10-2012 (), SM2
::

Libgcrypt features its own multiple precision arithmetic implementation, with assembler implementations for a variety of processors, including Alpha, AMD64, HP PA-RISC, i386, i586, M68K, MIPS 3, PowerPC, and SPARC. It also features an entropy gathering utility, coming in different versions for Unix-like and Windows machines.

Usually multiple, stable branches of Libgcrypt are maintained in parallel; since 2022-03-28 this is the Libgrypt 1.10 branch as stable branch, plus the 1.8 branch as LTS ("long-term support") branch, which will be maintained at least until 2024-12-31.{{cite web | url=https://gnupg.org/download/#end-of-life | title=End-of-life dates for GnuPG and Libgcrypt | work=GnuPG software | date=2021-02-04 | accessdate=2021-02-07}}

References

References

1. "AUTHORS".
2. (2018-01-08). "The SM3 Cryptographic Hash Function". [[Internet Engineering Task Force]].
3. (2014-02-14). "SM2 Digital Signature Algorithm". [[Internet Engineering Task Force]].

::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::