<blockquote>
<p><strong>I heard that there exist a wallet file</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>According to <a href="https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located</a></p>
<blockquote>
<p>The default wallet file is called default_wallet, which is created when you first run the application and is located in the /wallets folder, inside the datadir.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr />
<blockquote>
<p><strong>what does exactly contains? the private keys?</strong></p>
</blockquote>
<p>It contains at least the seed and private keys</p>
<blockquote>
<p>How is the wallet encrypted?</p>
<p>Electrum uses two separate levels of encryption:</p>
<p>Your seed and private keys are encrypted using AES-256-CBC. The private keys are decrypted only briefly, when you need to sign a
transaction; for this you need to enter your password. This is done in
order to minimize the amount of time during which sensitive
information is unencrypted in your computer’s memory.</p>
<p>In addition, your wallet file may be encrypted on disk. Note that the wallet information will remain unencrypted in the memory of
your computer for the duration of your session. If a wallet is
encrypted, then its password will be required in order to open it.
Note that the password will not be kept in memory; Electrum does not
need it in order to save the wallet on disk, because it uses
asymmetric encryption (ECIES).</p>
<p>Wallet file encryption is activated by default since version 2.8. It
is intended to protect your privacy, but also to prevent you from
requesting bitcoins on a wallet that you do not control.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>From what I have read, from version 2 the Electrum wallet file is in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON" rel="nofollow noreferrer">JSON</a> format - so should be readable with a text editor / viewer.</p>
<p>If you see nothing other than unreadable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64" rel="nofollow noreferrer">base64</a> text (<code>A</code>–<code>Z</code> , <code>a</code>–<code>z</code> , <code>0</code>–<code>9</code> , <code>+</code> , <code>/</code> and <code>=</code>), it means the wallet is encrypted.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-01-26T23:34:39.537Z
2023-01-26T23:42:49.173Z
2023-01-26T23:42:49.173Z
RedGrittyBrick
<p>I have been using electrum wallet and I heard that there exist a wallet file... but what does exactly contains? the private keys?</p>

<wallet><electrum>
What does the electrum wallet file contains?
SamSepiol
# What does the electrum wallet file contains?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2023-01-26)

I have been using electrum wallet and I heard that there exist a wallet file... but what does exactly contains? the private keys?

**Tags:** wallet, electrum


---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2023-01-26. Score: 1

> **I heard that there exist a wallet file**

According to <https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/faq.html#where-is-my-wallet-file-located>

> The default wallet file is called default\_wallet, which is created when you first run the application and is located in the /wallets folder, inside the datadir.

---

> **what does exactly contains? the private keys?**

It contains at least the seed and private keys

> How is the wallet encrypted?
>
> Electrum uses two separate levels of encryption:
>
> Your seed and private keys are encrypted using AES-256-CBC. The private keys are decrypted only briefly, when you need to sign a
> transaction; for this you need to enter your password. This is done in
> order to minimize the amount of time during which sensitive
> information is unencrypted in your computer’s memory.
>
> In addition, your wallet file may be encrypted on disk. Note that the wallet information will remain unencrypted in the memory of
> your computer for the duration of your session. If a wallet is
> encrypted, then its password will be required in order to open it.
> Note that the password will not be kept in memory; Electrum does not
> need it in order to save the wallet on disk, because it uses
> asymmetric encryption (ECIES).
>
> Wallet file encryption is activated by default since version 2.8. It
> is intended to protect your privacy, but also to prevent you from
> requesting bitcoins on a wallet that you do not control.

From what I have read, from version 2 the Electrum wallet file is in [JSON](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON) format - so should be readable with a text editor / viewer.

If you see nothing other than unreadable [base64](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Base64) text (`A`–`Z` , `a`–`z` , `0`–`9` , `+` , `/` and `=`), it means the wallet is encrypted.


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