crypto-js vs crypto-browserify
Cryptography in JavaScript
crypto-jscrypto-browserifySimilar Packages:
Cryptography in JavaScript

Cryptography libraries in JavaScript provide tools for secure communication, data encryption, hashing, and digital signatures. They implement cryptographic algorithms to protect sensitive information, ensuring confidentiality, integrity, and authenticity in web applications. These libraries are essential for tasks like password hashing, data encryption, and generating secure tokens, helping developers build secure applications that comply with privacy standards and protect user data from unauthorized access. crypto-browserify is a browser-compatible implementation of Node.js's built-in crypto module, providing a wide range of cryptographic functionalities like hashing, encryption, and digital signatures. It aims to bring the same API and features available in Node.js to the browser environment, making it easier for developers to implement cryptographic operations in client-side applications. crypto-js is a popular JavaScript library that provides a collection of cryptographic algorithms, including hashing (SHA, MD5), encryption (AES, DES), and HMAC. It is designed for both browser and Node.js environments, offering a simple API for performing cryptographic operations. crypto-js is lightweight and highly customizable, making it suitable for applications that require secure data handling, such as password hashing, data encryption, and generating secure tokens.

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crypto-js10,406,76116,339487 kB2792 years agoMIT
crypto-browserify9,396,10668356 kB38a year agoMIT
Feature Comparison: crypto-js vs crypto-browserify

Cryptographic Algorithms

  • crypto-js:

    crypto-js offers a rich collection of cryptographic algorithms, including secure hashing (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512, MD5), symmetric encryption (AES, DES, Triple DES), HMAC, and PBKDF2. It is known for its performance and efficiency, making it a popular choice for web applications that require fast cryptographic operations.

  • crypto-browserify:

    crypto-browserify supports a wide range of cryptographic algorithms, including hashing (SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512), encryption (AES, DES, RSA), HMAC, and digital signatures. It aims to provide a comprehensive set of algorithms that mirror those available in the Node.js crypto module, making it suitable for various cryptographic tasks.

Browser Compatibility

  • crypto-js:

    crypto-js is highly compatible with all major browsers and is designed to work seamlessly in both client-side and server-side JavaScript environments. Its lightweight nature and lack of external dependencies make it ideal for use in web applications where performance and compatibility are critical.

  • crypto-browserify:

    crypto-browserify is designed to be fully compatible with modern browsers, providing a polyfill for the Node.js crypto module. It allows developers to use familiar Node.js-style APIs for cryptographic operations in the browser, ensuring consistent behavior across different environments.

API Design

  • crypto-js:

    crypto-js features a simple and intuitive API that allows developers to quickly implement cryptographic functions without extensive setup. The library is modular, enabling developers to include only the algorithms they need, which helps reduce the overall footprint of the application.

  • crypto-browserify:

    crypto-browserify provides an API that closely resembles the Node.js crypto module, making it easy for developers familiar with Node.js to transition to browser-based cryptography. The API is well-documented and supports a wide range of cryptographic functions, including streaming and asynchronous operations.

Security Considerations

  • crypto-js:

    crypto-js is widely regarded as a secure library, but like any cryptographic tool, its security depends on proper usage. Developers must ensure they use strong keys, avoid deprecated algorithms (e.g., MD5), and follow best practices for encryption and hashing to mitigate potential vulnerabilities.

  • crypto-browserify:

    crypto-browserify prioritizes security by implementing industry-standard cryptographic algorithms and practices. It is actively maintained to address vulnerabilities and ensure compliance with current security standards. However, developers should always stay informed about best practices and potential risks when using cryptography in their applications.

Ease of Use: Code Examples

  • crypto-js:

    Hashing with crypto-js

    import SHA256 from 'crypto-js/sha256';
    const hash = SHA256('Hello, world!');
    console.log(hash.toString());
    
  • crypto-browserify:

    Hashing with crypto-browserify

    const crypto = require('crypto-browserify');
    const hash = crypto.createHash('sha256');
    hash.update('Hello, world!');
    console.log(hash.digest('hex'));
    
How to Choose: crypto-js vs crypto-browserify
  • crypto-js:

    Choose crypto-js if you need a lightweight library focused on providing a wide range of cryptographic algorithms with a simple API. It is particularly useful for applications that require fast and efficient hashing, encryption, and HMAC functions without the overhead of a large library.

  • crypto-browserify:

    Choose crypto-browserify if you need a comprehensive set of cryptographic functions that closely mimic the Node.js crypto module, especially for applications that require a consistent API across both server and client environments. It is ideal for projects that need advanced cryptographic features like digital signatures, key generation, and more.

README for crypto-js

crypto-js

JavaScript library of crypto standards.

Discontinued

Active development of CryptoJS has been discontinued. This library is no longer maintained.

Nowadays, NodeJS and modern browsers have a native Crypto module. The latest version of CryptoJS already uses the native Crypto module for random number generation, since Math.random() is not crypto-safe. Further development of CryptoJS would result in it only being a wrapper of native Crypto. Therefore, development and maintenance has been discontinued, it is time to go for the native crypto module.

Node.js (Install)

Requirements:

  • Node.js
  • npm (Node.js package manager)
npm install crypto-js

Usage

ES6 import for typical API call signing use case:

import sha256 from 'crypto-js/sha256';
import hmacSHA512 from 'crypto-js/hmac-sha512';
import Base64 from 'crypto-js/enc-base64';

const message, nonce, path, privateKey; // ...
const hashDigest = sha256(nonce + message);
const hmacDigest = Base64.stringify(hmacSHA512(path + hashDigest, privateKey));

Modular include:

var AES = require("crypto-js/aes");
var SHA256 = require("crypto-js/sha256");
...
console.log(SHA256("Message"));

Including all libraries, for access to extra methods:

var CryptoJS = require("crypto-js");
console.log(CryptoJS.HmacSHA1("Message", "Key"));

Client (browser)

Requirements:

  • Node.js
  • Bower (package manager for frontend)
bower install crypto-js

Usage

Modular include:

require.config({
    packages: [
        {
            name: 'crypto-js',
            location: 'path-to/bower_components/crypto-js',
            main: 'index'
        }
    ]
});

require(["crypto-js/aes", "crypto-js/sha256"], function (AES, SHA256) {
    console.log(SHA256("Message"));
});

Including all libraries, for access to extra methods:

// Above-mentioned will work or use this simple form
require.config({
    paths: {
        'crypto-js': 'path-to/bower_components/crypto-js/crypto-js'
    }
});

require(["crypto-js"], function (CryptoJS) {
    console.log(CryptoJS.HmacSHA1("Message", "Key"));
});

Usage without RequireJS

<script type="text/javascript" src="path-to/bower_components/crypto-js/crypto-js.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript">
    var encrypted = CryptoJS.AES(...);
    var encrypted = CryptoJS.SHA256(...);
</script>

API

See: https://cryptojs.gitbook.io/docs/

AES Encryption

Plain text encryption

var CryptoJS = require("crypto-js");

// Encrypt
var ciphertext = CryptoJS.AES.encrypt('my message', 'secret key 123').toString();

// Decrypt
var bytes  = CryptoJS.AES.decrypt(ciphertext, 'secret key 123');
var originalText = bytes.toString(CryptoJS.enc.Utf8);

console.log(originalText); // 'my message'

Object encryption

var CryptoJS = require("crypto-js");

var data = [{id: 1}, {id: 2}]

// Encrypt
var ciphertext = CryptoJS.AES.encrypt(JSON.stringify(data), 'secret key 123').toString();

// Decrypt
var bytes  = CryptoJS.AES.decrypt(ciphertext, 'secret key 123');
var decryptedData = JSON.parse(bytes.toString(CryptoJS.enc.Utf8));

console.log(decryptedData); // [{id: 1}, {id: 2}]

List of modules

  • crypto-js/core
  • crypto-js/x64-core
  • crypto-js/lib-typedarrays

  • crypto-js/md5
  • crypto-js/sha1
  • crypto-js/sha256
  • crypto-js/sha224
  • crypto-js/sha512
  • crypto-js/sha384
  • crypto-js/sha3
  • crypto-js/ripemd160

  • crypto-js/hmac-md5
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha1
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha256
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha224
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha512
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha384
  • crypto-js/hmac-sha3
  • crypto-js/hmac-ripemd160

  • crypto-js/pbkdf2

  • crypto-js/aes
  • crypto-js/tripledes
  • crypto-js/rc4
  • crypto-js/rabbit
  • crypto-js/rabbit-legacy
  • crypto-js/evpkdf

  • crypto-js/format-openssl
  • crypto-js/format-hex

  • crypto-js/enc-latin1
  • crypto-js/enc-utf8
  • crypto-js/enc-hex
  • crypto-js/enc-utf16
  • crypto-js/enc-base64

  • crypto-js/mode-cfb
  • crypto-js/mode-ctr
  • crypto-js/mode-ctr-gladman
  • crypto-js/mode-ofb
  • crypto-js/mode-ecb

  • crypto-js/pad-pkcs7
  • crypto-js/pad-ansix923
  • crypto-js/pad-iso10126
  • crypto-js/pad-iso97971
  • crypto-js/pad-zeropadding
  • crypto-js/pad-nopadding

Release notes

4.2.0

Change default hash algorithm and iteration's for PBKDF2 to prevent weak security by using the default configuration.

Custom KDF Hasher

Blowfish support

4.1.1

Fix module order in bundled release.

Include the browser field in the released package.json.

4.1.0

Added url safe variant of base64 encoding. 357

Avoid webpack to add crypto-browser package. 364

4.0.0

This is an update including breaking changes for some environments.

In this version Math.random() has been replaced by the random methods of the native crypto module.

For this reason CryptoJS might not run in some JavaScript environments without native crypto module. Such as IE 10 or before or React Native.

3.3.0

Rollback, 3.3.0 is the same as 3.1.9-1.

The move of using native secure crypto module will be shifted to a new 4.x.x version. As it is a breaking change the impact is too big for a minor release.

3.2.1

The usage of the native crypto module has been fixed. The import and access of the native crypto module has been improved.

3.2.0

In this version Math.random() has been replaced by the random methods of the native crypto module.

For this reason CryptoJS might does not run in some JavaScript environments without native crypto module. Such as IE 10 or before.

If it's absolute required to run CryptoJS in such an environment, stay with 3.1.x version. Encrypting and decrypting stays compatible. But keep in mind 3.1.x versions still use Math.random() which is cryptographically not secure, as it's not random enough.

This version came along with CRITICAL BUG.

DO NOT USE THIS VERSION! Please, go for a newer version!

3.1.x

The 3.1.x are based on the original CryptoJS, wrapped in CommonJS modules.