Interoperability

The following provides an overview of Bouncy Castle's capabilities and support, with relevant links to external standards and documentation. 

Packages and Standards

Bouncy Castle Java supports the following formats and standards.

Certifications

The following lists certifications with relevant links to certificates and documentation.

For more information about the Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API and how it presents cryptography, refer to The Bouncy Castle FIPS Java API in 100 Examples and sample code at https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/bc-fips-100-java.tar.gz and https://www.bouncycastle.org/fips-java/bc-fips-100-java.zip.

Algorithms and Key Types

Bouncy Castle supports the following public key algorithm types and key size/curves.

Algorithm	External Reference	Java	C#	FIPS Java	FIPS C#
Diffie-Hellman	SP 800-56A
DSA	FIPS PUB 186-4, RFC 6979
DSTU	DSTU 4145-2002
ECDSA/ECDH	X9.62, FIPS PUB 186-4, RFC 5639, RFC 6979, SP 800-56A
EdDSA/XDH	RFC 7748, RFC 8032, RFC 8410
ElGamal	RFC 4880
GOST	RFC 4490, RFC 7836
LMS/HSS	RFC 8554, RFC 8708
SM2	RFC 8998
RSA	RFC 8017, FIPS PUB 186-4, SP 800-56B
XMSS	RFC 8391

Symmetric Key Algorithms

Bouncy Castle supports the following symmetric key block based algorithms.

Algorithm	External Reference	Key Sizes (bits)	Block Size (bits)	Java	C#	FIPS Java	FIPS C#	Notes
AES	FIPS PUB 197, RFC 3394, RFC 5649	128, 192, 256	128
ARIA	RFC 5794, RFC 5649	128, 192, 256	128
Camellia	RFC 3713, RFC 3657	128, 192, 256	128
CAST 5	RFC 2144	0...128	64
CAST 6	RFC 2612	0...256	128
DSTU 7624	DSTU 7624:2014	128, 256, 512	128, 256, 512
GOST 28147	RFC 5830	256	64
GOST 3412-2015	RFC 7801	256	128
LEA	ISO/IEC 29192-2:2019	128	128, 192, 256
RC2	RFC 2268, RFC 3217	0...1024	64
RC5	RFC 2040	128	64, 128
SEED	RFC 4269	128	128
SM4	RFC 8998	128	128
TripleDES	FIPS PUB 46-3, RFC 3217	112, 168	64

Bouncy Castle supports the following symmetric key stream based algorithms.

Algorithm	External Reference	Key Sizes (bits)	Java	C#	FIPS Java	FIPS C#	Notes
Ascon	CAESAR, NIST Lightweight Competition Finalist	128, 160
CHACHA-7359	RFC 7359	128, 256
GRAIN	eSTREAM Project	128
HC	eSTREAM Project	128, 256
RC4	RFC 4345	40...2048					Unsafe - legacy use only.
Salsa20	eSTREAM Project	128, 256

Message Digests and Expandable Output Functions

Bouncy Castle supports the following Message Digests and Expandable Output Functions (XOFs).

Algorithm	External Reference	Java	C#	FIPS Java	FIPS C#
Ascon (Hash, XOF)	NIST Lightweight Competition Finalist
Blake2	RFC 7693
Blake3
cSHAKE-128, cSHAKE-256	SP 800-185
Kangaroo
KMAC-128, KMAC-256	SP 800-185
MD5	RFC 1321
ParallelHash-128, ParallelHash-256	SP 800-185
RIPEMD-128, RIPEMD-160, RIPEMD-256, RIPEMD-320
SHA-1	FIPS PUB 180-4
SHA224, SHA256, SHA384, SHA512, SHA512/224, SHA512/256	FIPS PUB 180-4
SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512	FIPS PUB 202
SHAKE-128, SHAKE-256	FIPS PUB 202, RFC 8702
SM3	RFC 8998
Tiger	Project NESSIE
TupleHash-128, TupleHash-256	SP 800-185
Whirlpool	Project NESSIE, ISO/IEC 10118-3

Post Quantum Algorithm Support

The following stateful hash-based signature algorithms are standardized and implemented.

NIST PQC Competition Algorithms

For further details on these algorithms, refer to NIST Post-Quantum Cryptography.

The Post-Quantum Cryptography (PQC) algorithms below are still under development. Published standards are unlikely to appear before mid-2024 and the algorithms may still change. You can start experimenting, but note that while the Key Encapsulation Algorithms (KEMs) are suitable for use with hybrid cryptography using short-term keys, the PQC algorithms below are still not suitable for use with anything long-term.

Key Encapsulation Algorithms (KEMs)

Signature Algorithms

CRL, OCSP and Certificate Distribution

Bouncy Castle supports the following CRL formats and standards.

Certificate Enrollment Protocols

The following lists Certificate Enrollment Protocols and/or interfaces.