Privacy Tool

Hash Generator

Generate cryptographic hashes from any text or file. MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512. Verify file integrity and generate checksums.

Text to hash

📁 Hash a file

md5 —

sha1 —

sha256 —

sha384 —

sha512 —

HMAC (keyed hash)

Secret Key

HMAC-SHA256 —

Verify checksum

—

All hashing runs in your browser using the WebCrypto API. Your text and files never leave your device. MD5 and SHA-1 are shown for legacy compatibility only — use SHA-256 or higher for security.

What is a Hash Function?

A hash function takes any input — text, a file, a password — and produces a fixed-length string of characters unique to that exact input; changing even a single character in the input produces a completely different hash, making hashes useful for verifying that data hasn’t been altered.

MD5 vs SHA-256 vs SHA-512

MD5 is fast but cryptographically broken — collisions (two different inputs producing the same hash) have been demonstrated, so it should never be used for security purposes, only for basic checksums. SHA-256 and SHA-512 are part of the more modern SHA-2 family and remain considered secure for password hashing, digital signatures, and integrity verification, with SHA-512 producing a longer hash at a small performance cost.

Common Uses for Hash Generation

Hashes are used to verify a downloaded file hasn’t been corrupted or tampered with (comparing the published hash against the one you generate), to store passwords without keeping the actual password in a database, and to create unique identifiers for data without exposing the original content.

What a hash is

A hash function turns any input, whether a word, a file or a whole disk image, into a fixed-length fingerprint. The same input always gives the same hash, the smallest change gives a completely different one, and you cannot work backwards from the hash to the input. That makes hashes the standard way to check that data has not changed.

Which algorithm to use

MD5 and SHA-1 are fine for spotting accidental corruption or as simple identifiers, but broken for security: attackers can create two different inputs with the same hash.
SHA-256 is the everyday standard for integrity checks, digital signatures and software downloads.
SHA-512 gives a longer output and is often faster than SHA-256 on 64-bit processors.

Common uses

Verifying downloads. Compare the hash of the file you downloaded with the checksum the developer publishes. If they differ, the file is damaged or has been tampered with.
Spotting duplicates and changes in files or database records.
Cache keys and content IDs that change whenever the content does.

Hashes are not for passwords

General-purpose hashes are built to be fast, which is exactly wrong for passwords: a modern graphics card can try billions of SHA-256 guesses per second. Store passwords with a slow, salted algorithm such as bcrypt or Argon2 instead; see the bcrypt generator. Hashing also does not hide short or predictable data. The SHA-256 of a phone number or email address can be reversed simply by hashing every possible value.

To hash a file on your own computer: sha256sum file on Linux, shasum -a 256 file on macOS, or certutil -hashfile file SHA256 on Windows.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is a hash?

A cryptographic hash function takes any input and produces a fixed-length output (the hash). Even a tiny change in the input produces a completely different hash. Hashes are used to verify file integrity and store passwords securely.

Is MD5 still safe to use?

MD5 and SHA-1 are cryptographically broken and should not be used for security purposes. They are shown for legacy compatibility only. For any security application use SHA-256 or stronger.

How do I verify a file download?

Download the file, then drag and drop it into the Hash Generator above. Compare the SHA-256 hash shown against the checksum published on the download page. If they match the file is authentic and untampered.