I need to encrypt a file, which is a tarred/zipped directory containing important files that I am actively working on. It is crucial for me to ensure their safety by keeping multiple backups, including in the cloud. Naturally, I want to encrypt these files to protect their contents.
I am aware that I should use a robust encryption algorithm along with a strong password. I primarily work on either Linux or macOS for handling these files (with rare occasions on Windows, but that’s not a significant factor).
Now I have searched how to best encrypt a file which is easily usable on macOS and Linux and there does not seem to be a clear winner. Zip format is said to be the easiest but looks like zip format supports weaker encryption and on top of that I have not come across a reliable method to support only the strong ones.
OpenSSL seems to be a little difficult to work with (I don’t want to carry the keys everywhere). I thought of using LUKS encrypted file but I could not use it on macOS easily enough.
How do I encrypt the file so that I can use it on both Linux (both x86 and ARM) and macOS (ARM/Apple-Silicon) with just a password without having to generating a separate key pair for them? It would be great if I can just-as-easily open them on Windows too but that’s not too important.
PS: I have scoured the internet and StackOverflow/StackExchange and some GitHub. Even ChatGPT failed at giving me something reliable.