List of cryptographic file systems explained

This is a list of filesystems with support for filesystem-level encryption. Not to be confused with full-disk encryption.

General-purpose filesystems with encryption

• AdvFS on Digital Tru64 UNIX
• Novell Storage Services on Novell NetWare and Linux
• NTFS with Encrypting File System (EFS) for Microsoft Windows
• ZFS since Pool Version 30
• Ext4, added in Linux kernel 4.1^[1] in June 2015
• F2FS, added in Linux kernel 4.2^[2]
• UBIFS, added in Linux kernel 4.10^[3]
• CephFS, added in Linux kernel 6.6^[4]
• bcachefs (experimental), added in Linux kernel 6.7^[5]
• APFS, macOS High Sierra (10.13) and later.

Cryptographic filesystems

FUSE-based file systems

File system	Latest release
gocryptfs	2023^[6]
CryFS	2023^[7]
securefs	2024^[8]
Rclone	2024^[9]
Discontinued projects
EncFS	2018^[10] ^[11]
LessFS^[12]	2013^[13]
MetFS^[14]	2012
CryptoFS^[15]	2007^[16]
Magikfs^[17]	2006^[18]
PhoneBookFS^[19]	2004^[20]

Integrated into the Linux kernel

• eCryptfs^[21]
• Rubberhose filesystem (discontinued)^[22]
• StegFS (discontinued)

Integrated into other UNIXes

• geli on FreeBSD
• EFS (Encrypted File System) on AIX^[23]

See also

• Comparison of disk encryption software

Notes and References

1. Web site: Ext4 encryption [LWN.net]]. lwn.net. 23 April 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20180219072915/https://lwn.net/Articles/639427/. 19 February 2018.
2. Web site: '[GIT PULL] f2fs updates for v4.2' - MARC .
3. Web site: Linux_4.10 - Linux Kernel Newbies . kernelnewbies.org . 18 March 2024 . December 2017. UBIFS: Add support for file encryption using the fscrypt framework..
4. Web site: Jonathan Corbet . The rest of the 6.6 merge window [LWN.net] ]. lwn.net . 18 March 2024 . September 2023 . The Ceph filesystem has gained fscrypt support..
5. Web site: Linux_6.7 - Linux Kernel Newbies . kernelnewbies.org . 19 July 2024.
6. Web site: Release v2.4.0 · rfjakob/gocryptfs . 2023-08-20 . GitHub.
7. Web site: Release 0.11.4 · cryfs/cryfs . 2023-08-20 . GitHub.
8. Web site: Release 1.0.0 · netheril96/securefs . 2024-07-19 . GitHub.
9. Web site: Craig-Wood . Nick . 2024-03-10 . Rclone Changelog . 2024-03-17 . rclone.org.
10. Web site: Release v1.9.5 · vgough/encfs . 2023-08-20 . GitHub.
11. Web site: Update project status in README (#671) · vgough/encfs@aa106e6 . GitHub . 19 July 2024 . en . This project is NOT maintained..
12. Web site: Lessfs . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140130011245/http://www.lessfs.com/ . 2014-01-30 . 2014-02-03 . Lessfs.com.
13. Web site: lessfs - data deduplication for less - Browse Files at SourceForge.net . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160117181347/http://sourceforge.net/projects/lessfs/files/ . 2016-01-17 . 2016-01-05 . sourceforge.net.
14. Web site: Metin KAYA - MetFS Encrypted, Dynamic Sized, Single File, FUSE Based Filesystem in Userspace . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160217094139/http://www.enderunix.org/metfs/ . 2016-02-17 . 2016-01-05 . www.enderunix.org.
15. Web site: Reboot's personal page . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160128075413/http://reboot.github.io/cryptofs/ . 2016-01-28 . 2016-01-05 . reboot.github.io.
16. Web site: Reboot's personal page . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160128075413/http://reboot.github.io/cryptofs/#AEN74 . 2016-01-28 . 2016-01-05 . reboot.github.io.
17. Web site: Magikfs – The Steganographic File System On Linux . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160304081132/http://magikfs.sourceforge.net/ . 2016-03-04 . 2016-01-05 . magikfs.sourceforge.net.
18. Web site: magikfs-The steganographic filesystem - Browse Files at SourceForge.net . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160308034046/https://sourceforge.net/projects/magikfs/files/ . 2016-03-08 . 2016-01-05 . sourceforge.net.
19. Web site: Phonebook - Software to Make Your PC 'Police-Ready' . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160305160239/http://freenet.mcnabhosting.com/python/phonebook/ . 2016-03-05 . 2016-01-05 . freenet.mcnabhosting.com.
20. Web site: Changelog for phonebook . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20160117181347/http://freenet.mcnabhosting.com/python/phonebook/ChangeLog.txt . 2016-01-17.
21. Web site: eCryptfs in Launchpad . Launchpad.net . 2014-02-03 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20140209201633/https://launchpad.net/ecryptfs . 2014-02-09 .
22. Web site: Rubberhose disk encryption system . iq.org . https://web.archive.org/web/20060902083210/http://iq.org/~proff/rubberhose.org/ . 2006-09-02.
23. Web site: Understanding EFS. 29 January 2008. www.ibm.com. 23 April 2018. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20160819191300/http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/aix/library/au-efs/. 19 August 2016.