According to some embodiments of the invention, a message is processed before encryption so that the encryption method generates a short ciphertext. The message processing can be viewed as a mapping (610) that maps the message into another message that generates the short ciphertext. The mapping is reversible at least if the (possibly encoded) message (H(M)) is in a restricted set, e.g. a set [0,h″] of short messages. In some embodiments of the present invention, short signatures are provided by mapping the signature into a short signature. The mapping (810) is reversible at least if the original message (H(M)) used to generate the signature is short. Signcryption, aggregate signature, and ring signature outputs are also shortened.