Hash Generator

How it works

A cryptographic hash function takes any input and produces a fixed-length output called a digest. The same input always produces the same digest. Changing even a single character produces a completely different digest — this is called the avalanche effect.

SHA-256 produces a 256-bit (32-byte) digest. SHA-512 produces a 512-bit (64-byte) digest. This tool uses the browser's SubtleCrypto API — no server computation required.

Hash vs encryption

Hashing is not encryption. A hash is one-way — you cannot reverse a hash to get the original input. Encryption is two-way: you can decrypt a ciphertext back to plaintext with the right key.

• Use hashing for: passwords, checksums, data integrity, digital signatures, deduplication
• Use encryption for: transmitting or storing data you need to recover later

Common uses

• File checksums — verify a downloaded file hasn't been tampered with by comparing SHA-256 hashes
• API request signing — HMAC-SHA256 signs API requests in AWS Signature v4, Stripe webhooks, and GitHub webhooks
• Password storage — store bcrypt/Argon2 hashes of passwords, never plaintext (SHA-256 alone is not sufficient for passwords without a salt and slow hash)
• Content-addressed storage — Git uses SHA-1 (and is migrating to SHA-256) to identify objects by their content hash
• Deduplication — detect duplicate files or records without comparing full content

FAQ