BrowserTools

Hash Generator

SHA-256, SHA-1, SHA-512, MD5 & CRC32 checksums

By Guga — BrowserTools maintainer, Tbilisi, Georgia Updated 2026-09-12
Free Private No uploads
What is Hash Generator?

A hash function takes any input and produces a fixed-length fingerprint, and the same input always yields the same fingerprint — which is exactly what makes it useful for checking that a file has not changed. Type into the text box and six digests appear immediately: SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 and SHA-1 come from your browser's own cryptographic implementation, while MD5 and CRC32 run a local routine. Drop a file of up to 200 MB on the panel and the same six are computed over its bytes, with the filename shown above the results. The SHA-256 digest is 64 hexadecimal characters, SHA-512 is 128, MD5 is 32 and CRC32 is 8. What a hash is not is encryption: there is no key and no way to work backwards from a digest to the original.

Compute SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, SHA-1, MD5 and CRC32 hashes of any text or file instantly. Hashing runs locally in your browser, so even sensitive inputs never leave your device.

Private Hash Generator In Your Browser

Hash Generator is processed locally with client-side JavaScript. Your files never touch a server, and there is no queue to wait in.

Step-by-Step

How to use Hash Generator

1

Paste or type into the text box and watch the six digests refresh on every keystroke.

2

To hash a file instead, drop it onto the file area or pick it with the file chooser.

3

Read the six labelled rows, each with its own copy button, and compare against a published digest.

4

Clear the text box to return to an empty state — dropping a file clears it for you automatically.

Key Capabilities
  • Six digests per input: SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512, MD5 and CRC32
  • SHA family computed with the browser's native Web Crypto implementation
  • File hashing up to 200 MB, read locally rather than uploaded
  • Lower-case hexadecimal output with a copy control on every row
Common Use Cases
  • A developer verifying that a downloaded installer matches the SHA-256 checksum published alongside it.
  • A sysadmin comparing a config file's digest before and after an edit to confirm the change landed.
  • A student generating test vectors for a hashing assignment and checking them against published values.
Clear Answers

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I use this to store a password safely?
No, and this is the single most important limitation. A plain SHA-256 or MD5 of a password takes microseconds to compute, so an attacker who obtains the digest can try billions of guesses per second. Password storage needs a deliberately slow function with a random salt — bcrypt, scrypt or Argon2 — none of which appear here because speed is the point.
Why do MD5 and CRC32 come with collision warnings in the wild?
Both can be made to produce the same digest from different inputs, which is no longer theoretical for MD5. That matters when a hash is a security claim, and rarely matters when it is a file-integrity check. SHA-256 is the one to reach for by default; the weaker two are here because older manifests, checksums and protocols still specify them.
My file's digest does not match the published one — why?
Line endings are the usual culprit. A file transferred through a system that rewrites LF as CRLF has different bytes and therefore a completely different digest, even though every line reads the same. A text editor that adds a final newline, or one that saves in UTF-8 with a byte-order mark, changes the hash in the same way.
Does the file get uploaded anywhere?
No. The file is read through the browser's file API into memory and hashed with local implementations; the panel says so and there is no request to make. That is why the 200 MB ceiling is a practicality rather than a privacy setting — a very large file will still sit in the page's memory while it is processed.