A cryptographic standard for the exchange of digital certificates in public key cryptography. PKCS #12 is an industry-standard format for the transfer, backup, and restoration of digital certificates and their associated public or private keys.
PKCS #12 is the export format that is usually used to export a digital certificate with its private key, because exposing a user’s private key using a less secure method of export poses a security risk.
PKCS #12 is used to export certificates to other computers, to removable media for backup purposes, or to smart cards to enable smart card authentication schemes.