Encryption is the process of converting data into a form that is unreadable by unauthorized parties. This is done by using a mathematical algorithm to scramble the data, and then using a key to unscramble it. The key is a piece of information that is known only to the sender and receiver of the encrypted data.

Decryption is the process of converting encrypted data back into its original form. This is done by using the same mathematical algorithm and key that were used to encrypt the data.