.. _download-certificate-ref:

Download a Certificate
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Once you've identified the appropriate certificate, click the Download button:

.. image:: ZTPKIScreenshots/ZTPKI-DownloadButton.png

This will load the **Download Certificate** screen.

There are two main decisions to make when downloading a certificate for use in an application:

   * What file format is needed? The primary choices are **DER**, which is a binary format. If you try and open it in a text editor, you'll see a bunch of random characters and spaces. The second is **PEM** (Privacy-Enhanced Mail). If you open this type in a text editor, you'll see an ordered block of characters that starts with "------BEGIN CERTIFICATE------" and ends with "------END CERTIFICATE------".

   * Do you need the **Certificate Chain**? This option includes the Root CA, the Issuing CA and the leaf certificate in a single file.

   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
   | Options                                                   | Generates                                         | Used mainly for     |
   +===========================================================+===================================================+=====================+
   | .. image:: ZTPKIScreenshots/CertDownload-DER.png          | Leaf cert only in binary format                   | Microsoft Products  |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
   | .. image:: ZTPKIScreenshots/CertDownload-PEM.png          | Leaf cert only in text format                     | Linux, Apache       |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+

   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
   | Options                                                   | Generates                                         | Used mainly for     |
   +===========================================================+===================================================+=====================+
   | .. image:: ZTPKIScreenshots/CertDownload-DERChain.png     | Root, Issuing CA and Leaf cert in binary format   | Microsoft Products  |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+
   | .. image:: ZTPKIScreenshots/CertDownload-PEMChain.png     | Root, Issuing CA and Leaf cert in text format     | Linux, Apache       |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------+---------------------------------------------------+---------------------+

Once you've made your selection click the **Download** button and the file will be saved to your default download location. You can download the certificate as many times and in as many formats as you need.