SysAdmin Wiki: Converting SSH key format

To convert ssh key in PEM format to OpenSSH format, use this command:

ssh-keygen -i -f pem_format.pub > id_rsa.pub

To convert ssh key in OpenSSH format to PEM format, use this command:

ssh-keygen -e -f id_rsa.pub > pem_format.pub

To see the fingerprint of the ssh key use this command:

To see the fingerprint of the ssh key, use this command:

ssh-keygen -l -f id_rsa.pub

This will return three things:

the bit strength
the fingerprint
the filename

PEM format:

---- BEGIN SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----

Comment: "4096-bit RSA, converted from OpenSSH by user@machine_name"

AAAAB3NzaC1yc2EAAAABIwAAAgEAwrr66r8n6B8Y0zMF3dOpXEapIQD9DiYQ6D6/zwor9o

39jSkHNiMMER/GETBbzP83LOcekm02aRjo55ArO7gPPVvCXbrirJu9pkm4AC4BBre5xSLS

7soyzwbigFruM8G63jSXqpHqJ/ooi168sKMC2b0Ncsi+JlTfNYlDXJVLKEeZgZOInQyMmt

isaDTUQWTIv1snAizf4iIYENuAkGYGNCL77u5Y5VOu5eQipvFajTnps9QvUx/zdSFYn9e2

sulWM3Bxc/S4IJ67JWHVRpfJxGi3hinRBH8WQdXuUwdJJTiJHKPyYrrM7Q6Xq4TOMFtcRu

LDC6u3BXM1L0gBvHPNOnD5l2Lp5EjUkQ9CBf2j4A4gfH+iWQZyk08esAG/iwArAVxkl368

+dkbMWOXL8BN4x5zYgdzoeypQZZ2RKH780MCTSo4WQ19DP8pw+9q3bSFC9H3xYAxrKAJNW

jeTUJOTrTe+mWXXU770gYyQTxa2ycnYrlZucn1S3vsvn6eq7NZZ8NRbyv1n15Ocg+nHK4f

uKOrwPhU3NbKQwtjb0Wsxx1gAmQqIOLTpAdsrAauPxC7TPYA5qQVCphvimKuhQM/1gMV22

5JrnjspVlthCzuFYUjXOKC3wxz6FFEtwnXu3uC5bVVkmkNadJmD21gD23yk4BraGXVYpRM

IB+X+OTUUI8=

---- END SSH2 PUBLIC KEY ----

OpenSSH format:

ssh-rsa