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DayUtils

Hash Generator – MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512

Type or paste text to get its MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 hashes at the same time. The SHA hashes use your browser’s built-in Web Crypto engine, the text is encoded as UTF-8, and nothing is uploaded.

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How to use the hash generator

  1. Type or paste your text.
  2. All five hashes appear instantly, in lowercase hexadecimal.
  3. Tick Uppercase hex if you need capital letters.
  4. Press Copy next to any hash.

The hash algorithms

AlgorithmLengthStatus
MD5128 bits (32 hex characters)Broken — checksums only
SHA-1160 bits (40)Broken — legacy use only
SHA-256256 bits (64)Secure, widely used
SHA-384384 bits (96)Secure
SHA-512512 bits (128)Secure

SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 belong to the SHA-2 family, published by the US National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Example

The text The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog has the MD5 hash 9e107d9d372bb6826bd81d3542a419d6. Change “dog” to “cog” and the hash becomes completely different — the so-called avalanche effect.

What hashes are used for

  • File integrity: download sites publish a SHA-256 checksum so you can confirm a file wasn’t corrupted or tampered with.
  • Version control: Git identifies every commit by a hash.
  • Digital signatures and certificates sign a hash of the document.
  • Deduplication and caching: identical content produces identical hashes.
  • Data structures: hash tables and Bloom filters.
  • Blockchains chain blocks together with hashes.

Hashing vs encryption vs encoding

  • Hashing is one-way and fixed-length. You can’t get the input back.
  • Encryption is two-way with a key. Only someone with the key can read the data.
  • Encoding, such as Base64, is two-way without a key. It changes the format, not the secrecy.

Verifying a download

When a website publishes a SHA-256 checksum next to a download, compare it with the hash of the file you received. On macOS and Linux, run shasum -a 256 filename in a terminal; on Windows, run Get-FileHash filename in PowerShell. If even one character differs, the file is different — download it again from the official source. A matching hash shows the file is exactly what the publisher released, provided the checksum itself came from a trusted page.

Line endings and spaces

Hashes are extremely sensitive. A trailing space, a new line at the end, or Windows line endings (CR LF) instead of Unix ones (LF) all produce a completely different hash. If your result doesn’t match what you expect, check for invisible characters first.

Privacy

Everything is calculated in your browser using the Web Crypto API (for SHA) and a built-in MD5 routine. Even so, think twice before pasting secrets into any website. For random identifiers, use the UUID generator; for strong passwords, the password generator; and for encoding, the Base64 encoder.

Frequently asked questions

What is a hash?

A fixed-length fingerprint of some data, produced by a one-way function. The same input always gives the same hash, and a tiny change in the input gives a completely different hash. You can’t turn a hash back into the original text.

What is the SHA-256 hash of “abc”?

ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad. The MD5 hash of “abc” is 900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72.

Is MD5 secure?

No. Researchers can create different inputs with the same MD5 hash, and SHA-1 has also been broken. Use them only for non-security checksums. For security, use SHA-256 or stronger.

Can I hash passwords with this?

Don’t store passwords as plain SHA or MD5 hashes — they can be cracked quickly with modern hardware. Applications should use a slow, salted password hashing algorithm such as Argon2, bcrypt or scrypt.

Why does my hash differ from another tool’s?

Usually because the input differs: an extra space or line break, different line endings (Windows vs Unix), or a different text encoding. This tool hashes exactly what is in the box, as UTF-8.

Can I hash a file?

This tool hashes text. To check a downloaded file, use your operating system’s command, such as shasum -a 256 on macOS and Linux or Get-FileHash in Windows PowerShell.

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