<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This article needs additional citations for verification . Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (June 2011) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> In cryptography, plaintext or cleartext is unencrypted information, as opposed to information encrypted for storage or transmission . Plaintext usually means unencrypted information pending input into cryptographic algorithms, usually encryption algorithms . Cleartext usually refers to data that is transmitted or stored unencrypted (' in the clear'). </P> <P> With the advent of computing, the term plaintext expanded beyond human - readable documents to mean any data, including binary files, in a form that can be viewed or used without requiring a key or other decryption device . Information--a message, document, file, etc.--if to be communicated or stored in encrypted form is referred to as plaintext . </P>

Plaintext is a term that is best described as what