Hash Generator

A hash function converts input data of any size into a fixed-length string of characters. The same input always produces the same hash, but even a tiny change in input creates a completely different hash. Tip: hashes are one-way — you cannot reverse a hash to recover the original data.

MD5 (128-bit) and SHA-1 (160-bit) are considered insecure for cryptographic purposes due to known collision attacks. SHA-256 (256-bit) is part of the SHA-2 family and is widely used and considered secure. Tip: use SHA-256 or SHA-512 for security-sensitive applications; MD5 is still fine for non-security checksums like file integrity.

No. Hashing is one-way: you cannot recover the original data from a hash. Encryption is two-way: data is encrypted with a key and can be decrypted back. Tip: use hashing for passwords and data integrity checks; use encryption (AES, RSA) when you need to recover the original data later.

Passwords should be hashed with a slow, salted algorithm like bcrypt, scrypt, or Argon2 — not plain SHA-256. The salt (random data) ensures identical passwords produce different hashes. Tip: never store passwords in plain text or with fast hashes (MD5/SHA). Use your framework's built-in password hashing utilities.

A checksum is a hash of a file's contents used to verify integrity. If the checksum matches after download or transfer, the file is intact. SHA-256 checksums are standard for software downloads. Tip: on Windows, use certutil -hashfile FILE SHA256; on macOS/Linux, use sha256sum FILE.