Hash Generator

SHA-256 is the standard choice for most applications. MD5 and SHA-1 are considered cryptographically weak and should only be used for checksums or legacy compatibility, not security. SHA-512 provides extra security margin.

Yes, MD5 is available for checksum and legacy use cases. Note that MD5 is computed via a JavaScript implementation since the Web Crypto API does not support it. For security-sensitive applications, use SHA-256 or SHA-512.

Yes. All hashing uses the browser Web Crypto API (or a JS fallback for MD5). No data leaves your device.

This tool hashes text input. To hash a file, use the terminal: on macOS/Linux run "shasum -a 256 filename" or "md5 filename". In the browser, file hashing requires reading the file as an ArrayBuffer and calling crypto.subtle.digest(), which some specialized tools support.

A collision occurs when two different inputs produce the same hash. MD5 and SHA-1 have known practical collision attacks, which is why they are no longer recommended for security. SHA-256 has no known collisions and is considered collision-resistant for all practical purposes.

Hashing is one-way: you cannot recover the original input from a hash. Encryption is two-way: data can be decrypted with the right key. Use hashing to verify data integrity or store passwords (with salting). Use encryption when you need to recover the original data later.

Yes. The interface is fully responsive. You can type or paste text, generate all four hash algorithms at once, and tap to copy any hash value on phones and tablets.

Command-line tools like shasum and openssl dgst are ideal for scripting and hashing files. This tool is faster for quick one-off hashing — paste text, see all four algorithms at once, copy the one you need. No terminal, no remembering flags.

For text content, yes — paste the text and compare the hash against the expected value. For binary files, use the terminal: "shasum -a 256 filename" on macOS/Linux or "certutil -hashfile filename SHA256" on Windows. Browser-based file hashing requires reading the file as an ArrayBuffer.

A salt is a random string appended to a password before hashing. Without salting, identical passwords produce identical hashes, making rainbow table attacks trivial. With unique salts per user, each hash is different even for the same password. Always salt passwords — use bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 rather than plain SHA-256.

Each algorithm has a fixed output size: MD5 produces 128-bit (32 hex characters), SHA-1 produces 160-bit (40 hex), SHA-256 produces 256-bit (64 hex), and SHA-512 produces 512-bit (128 hex). Longer output means larger security margin against brute-force and collision attacks.

The <a href="/ai/dev/base64">Base64 Encoder</a> is useful when you need to encode hash outputs for transport. The <a href="/ai/dev/jwt">JWT Decoder</a> works with HMAC-signed tokens that use SHA-256 under the hood. The <a href="/ai/dev/url-encode">URL Encoder</a> can percent-encode hash values for use in query parameters.