Not where it matters that two inputs never share a hash. RFC 6151 states that MD5 is no longer acceptable where collision resistance is required, such as digital signatures. It still detects accidental corruption, which is why it survives as a download checksum. Use SHA-256 when someone could alter the file on purpose.

Is SHA-1 still safe to use?

No. NIST announced in December 2022 that SHA-1 should be phased out by December 31, 2030, in favor of SHA-2 and SHA-3, because collision attacks against it have become practical. This tool keeps SHA-1 so that you can check old checksums.

Can a hash be decrypted?

No. A hash is not encryption: there is no key, and the function cannot be run backward. A short or common input can still be found by guessing, because the same input always gives the same hash. The MD5 of “password” is 5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99 on every computer.

Should I hash passwords with SHA-256?

Not with a plain hash. Fast algorithms such as SHA-256 let an attacker test guesses quickly. OWASP recommends a slow, salted password hashing function instead: Argon2id first, then scrypt, bcrypt or PBKDF2.

How do I verify a file checksum?

Choose the algorithm the publisher used, upload the file, press Generate Hash and paste the published value into the compare field. Upper and lower case do not matter. If the lengths differ, the tool says so, which usually means the wrong algorithm is selected; Compare all algorithms then marks the one that matches.

No. The file is read and hashed in your browser by a background worker, and the tool makes no network request. MD5 takes files up to 200 MB and the SHA algorithms up to 100 MB, so Compare all algorithms skips the SHA rows for a larger file.

Hash Generator

Compute the MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA-512 hash of text or a file and compare it with an expected checksum. The file is hashed in your browser. How it works

Input (Text or File)

Upload File

Files up to 200 MB with MD5 (hashed in chunks, with progress) and up to 100 MB with SHA (the browser reads the whole file into memory, so no percentage is shown).

Uppercase hex

Compare with (expected hash)

MD5 and SHA-1 are broken for collision resistance. They are fine for checksums against accidental corruption, but not for signatures, certificates or passwords.

A hash is not encryption. Passwords should be stored with a slow, salted function such as Argon2, scrypt, bcrypt or PBKDF2, not with a plain hash.

Text is hashed as UTF-8 exactly as typed, including spaces and a trailing newline.

Known test vectors

Published digests of the empty string and of abc
Algorithm	Input	Digest
MD5	(empty string)	d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
MD5	"abc"	900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72
SHA-1	(empty string)	da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709
SHA-1	"abc"	a9993e364706816aba3e25717850c26c9cd0d89d
SHA-256	(empty string)	e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855
SHA-256	"abc"	ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad
SHA-384	(empty string)	38b060a751ac96384cd9327eb1b1e36a21fdb71114be07434c0cc7bf63f6e1da274edebfe76f65fbd51ad2f14898b95b
SHA-384	"abc"	cb00753f45a35e8bb5a03d699ac65007272c32ab0eded1631a8b605a43ff5bed8086072ba1e7cc2358baeca134c825a7
SHA-512	(empty string)	cf83e1357eefb8bdf1542850d66d8007d620e4050b5715dc83f4a921d36ce9ce47d0d13c5d85f2b0ff8318d2877eec2f63b931bd47417a81a538327af927da3e
SHA-512	"abc"	ddaf35a193617abacc417349ae20413112e6fa4e89a97ea20a9eeee64b55d39a2192992a274fc1a836ba3c23a3feebbd454d4423643ce80e2a9ac94fa54ca49f

About the Hash Generator

The MD5 hash of “hello” is 5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592 and its SHA-256 hash is 2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824. This hash generator computes the MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA-512 hash of text or of a file, and compares it with a checksum you paste in.

Hash algorithms: output length and what to use them for

Algorithm	Output in bits	Hex characters	Use it for
MD5	128	32	Checksums only
SHA-1	160	40	Checksums only
SHA-256	256	64	Checksums, signatures, general use
SHA-384	384	96	Checksums, signatures, general use
SHA-512	512	128	Checksums, signatures, general use

“Checksums only” means detecting accidental corruption. MD5 and SHA-1 are broken for collision resistance, so do not use them for signatures or certificates. SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 all belong to the SHA-2 family; SHA-256 is the one most download pages publish.

MD5, SHA-1 and SHA-256 of common test strings

Input	Algorithm	Hash
(empty)	MD5	d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e
(empty)	SHA-1	da39a3ee5e6b4b0d3255bfef95601890afd80709
(empty)	SHA-256	e3b0c44298fc1c149afbf4c8996fb92427ae41e4649b934ca495991b7852b855
abc	MD5	900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72
abc	SHA-1	a9993e364706816aba3e25717850c26c9cd0d89d
abc	SHA-256	ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad
hello	MD5	5d41402abc4b2a76b9719d911017c592
hello	SHA-1	aaf4c61ddcc5e8a2dabede0f3b482cd9aea9434d
hello	SHA-256	2cf24dba5fb0a30e26e83b2ac5b9e29e1b161e5c1fa7425e73043362938b9824
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog	MD5	9e107d9d372bb6826bd81d3542a419d6
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog	SHA-1	2fd4e1c67a2d28fced849ee1bb76e7391b93eb12
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog	SHA-256	d7a8fbb307d7809469ca9abcb0082e4f8d5651e46d3cdb762d02d0bf37c9e592

Input is hashed as UTF-8 exactly as typed, with no line break added. One extra character changes everything: “Hello” with a capital H has the MD5 8b1a9953c4611296a827abf8c47804d7.

How to use this tool

Choose the algorithm: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 or SHA-512.
Type or paste text, or press Upload File and choose a file.
Press Generate Hash. Tick Uppercase hex if the value you are comparing with is in capitals.
To check a download, paste the published checksum into “Compare with (expected hash)”. The tool reports a match or a mismatch.
Not sure which algorithm was used? Press Compare all algorithms: all five hashes are listed with a copy button each, and the one that equals the expected hash is marked.

Frequently asked questions

Is MD5 secure?: Not where it matters that two inputs never share a hash. RFC 6151 states that MD5 is no longer acceptable where collision resistance is required, such as digital signatures. It still detects accidental corruption, which is why it survives as a download checksum. Use SHA-256 when someone could alter the file on purpose.
Is SHA-1 still safe to use?: No. NIST announced in December 2022 that SHA-1 should be phased out by December 31, 2030, in favor of SHA-2 and SHA-3, because collision attacks against it have become practical. This tool keeps SHA-1 so that you can check old checksums.
Can a hash be decrypted?: No. A hash is not encryption: there is no key, and the function cannot be run backward. A short or common input can still be found by guessing, because the same input always gives the same hash. The MD5 of “password” is 5f4dcc3b5aa765d61d8327deb882cf99 on every computer.
Should I hash passwords with SHA-256?: Not with a plain hash. Fast algorithms such as SHA-256 let an attacker test guesses quickly. OWASP recommends a slow, salted password hashing function instead: Argon2id first, then scrypt, bcrypt or PBKDF2.
How do I verify a file checksum?: Choose the algorithm the publisher used, upload the file, press Generate Hash and paste the published value into the compare field. Upper and lower case do not matter. If the lengths differ, the tool says so, which usually means the wrong algorithm is selected; Compare all algorithms then marks the one that matches.
Is my file uploaded?: No. The file is read and hashed in your browser by a background worker, and the tool makes no network request. MD5 takes files up to 200 MB and the SHA algorithms up to 100 MB, so Compare all algorithms skips the SHA rows for a larger file.

Checking a download against its published checksum

The common job is checking a download. A project publishes the SHA-256 or MD5 checksum of a file; you hash your copy and compare. Upload the file, pick the same algorithm, press Generate Hash and paste the published value into Compare with. The tool reports a match or a mismatch. Not sure which algorithm the publisher used? Press Compare all algorithms with the published value pasted in: all five hashes are listed and the one that matches is marked. Developers also use it to get the known hash of a test string, or to confirm that two pieces of text are byte for byte the same.

A hash is not encryption, and a plain hash is the wrong way to store passwords. Use a slow, salted function such as Argon2, scrypt, bcrypt or PBKDF2 for that.

The algorithms

A hash function turns input of any length into a value of fixed length. The same input always gives the same hash, and changing one character changes the whole hash.

MD5: 128 bits, 32 hex characters
SHA-1: 160 bits, 40 hex characters
SHA-256: 256 bits, 64 hex characters
SHA-384: 384 bits, 96 hex characters
SHA-512: 512 bits, 128 hex characters

Example: the MD5 of abc is 900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72, a test value published in RFC 1321.

Text is hashed as UTF-8 exactly as typed, so a trailing space or line break changes the result. Files up to 200 MB can be hashed with MD5 and up to 100 MB with the SHA algorithms; Compare all skips the SHA rows for a larger file.

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