Hash text
Hash a text string using the function you need : MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA224, SHA512, SHA384, SHA3 or RIPEMD160
About Hash text
A hash function turns data of any length into a fixed-length fingerprint. The same input always gives the same result, and the original cannot be recovered from it. Hashes are mainly used to verify that a file or a piece of data has not changed.
When you would use it
- Comparing a downloaded file against the SHA-256 published by the vendor to confirm it is intact and not tampered with.
- Checking whether two seemingly identical files really hold the same bytes.
- Producing fixed-length identifiers during development, or normalising cache keys.
How to use it
- Paste text into the field at the top; all eight algorithms are computed as you type.
- Switch the digest encoding to get hexadecimal, Base64 or binary output.
- To hash a file, scroll to the file section, tick the algorithms you need and drop the file in.
- To verify a download, paste the published hash into the compare field; a match shows a green tag.
Things worth knowing
- Files are hashed entirely in your browser, in streamed chunks, so nothing is uploaded and large files do not exhaust memory.
- MD5 and SHA-1 have practical collision attacks and should not be used for security. They are still fine for detecting accidental corruption.
- The "SHA3" row here is actually Keccak-512, the pre-NIST variant, so it does not match the sha3sum command. Do not use it when you need standard SHA3-512.
- Hashing is not encryption: there is no key and nothing to reverse. Use bcrypt for passwords and the encryption tool to encrypt text.
Frequently asked questions
- Why does the same file give a different SHA-256 elsewhere?
- It should not. A difference usually means the files differ (CRLF versus LF line endings, or an incomplete download), or that one side hashed the text rather than the raw bytes.
- Which algorithm should I pick?
- SHA-256 is the general-purpose choice for file integrity. Use SHA-512 if you want a longer digest. Avoid MD5 and SHA-1 for anything security related.