You're equating Rijndael with AES, a common misconception.
AES is only a subset of it - Rijndael-128, with the difference between AES variations being only the key size:
- AES-128 is Rijndael-128 with a 128-bit key.
- AES-256 is again Rijndael-128, but with a 256-bit key.
The suffix number in Rijndael variations on the other hand, refers to both key size and block size, so of course you cannot get Rijndael-256 by doing AES, as you need a 256-bit block size.
There's a page on the phpseclib docs, which generates sample code after you input the basic variables (cipher, mode, key size, bit size). It outputs the following for Rijndael, CBC, 256, 256:
<?php
include('Crypt/Rijndael.php');
include('Crypt/Random.php');
$cipher = new Crypt_Rijndael(); // could use CRYPT_RIJNDAEL_MODE_CBC
$cipher->setBlockLength(256);
// keys are null-padded to the closest valid size
// longer than the longest key and it's truncated
//$cipher->setKeyLength(256);
$cipher->setKey('abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz123456');
// the IV defaults to all-NULLs if not explicitly defined
$cipher->setIV(crypt_random_string($cipher->getBlockLength() >> 3));
$size = 10 * 1024;
$plaintext = str_repeat('a', $size);
echo $cipher->decrypt($cipher->encrypt($plaintext));
I am not sure if the library actually supports this cipher without mcrypt availablity, but it should.
I assume you are doing this because mcrypt is being dropped from PHP, and I strongly suggest that you change your strategy.
Even if the above works, it would be quite slow when using a userland PHP implementation of the algorithm (something which is noted in the phpseclib docs), but more importantly - you'll have no other alternatives if this library stops working, is no longer maintained, etc. Non-AES variations of Rijndael are not ubiquitous, and there are more modern algorithms available today anyway (hint: libsodium being added to PHP 7.2).
If I were you, I'd change the algorithm entirely. Of course, that would mean re-encrypting all of the data, but you'll have to do that eventually and now is really the best time to do it.