SHA-512 Hash Generator
Generate a SHA-512 hash from any text — or drop in a file to checksum it, and paste a known hash to verify.
Input text
13 characters
Drop a file or click to hash its bytesComputes the SHA-512 checksum from the file contents, in chunks with progress
SHA-512 Hash (512-bit)
About SHA-512
SHA-512 is the 512-bit (128-hex-character) member of the SHA-2 family. It offers a larger digest than SHA-256 and is often faster on 64-bit hardware, making it a strong choice for integrity checks and key derivation. Computed locally via your browser's native crypto.subtle over the UTF-8 bytes of your text.
Built and maintained by Meet Shah · Last updated
What this tool is used for
- Producing a digest on 64-bit hardware where the wider word size makes it faster than SHA-256.
- Matching a Linux shadow entry or a system that specifies the SHA-512 crypt form.
- Generating a long fingerprint where the extra margin is cheap and the field width is not constrained.
- Reproducing a checksum published by a project that chose SHA-512.
- Comparing the truncated variants against the full digest for a design decision.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Is SHA-512 more secure than SHA-256?
- It has a larger security margin (256-bit collision resistance versus 128-bit), but both are unbroken and 128 bits is already far beyond reach. Choose SHA-512 for long-term margin or 64-bit performance, not because SHA-256 is weak.
- Why is it sometimes faster than SHA-256?
- It works on 64-bit words and 1024-bit blocks, so on a 64-bit CPU it hashes more data per round of work. That advantage disappears on hardware with SHA-NI instructions, which accelerate SHA-256 but not SHA-512.
- What are SHA-512/224 and SHA-512/256?
- Truncated SHA-512 variants with their own IVs, defined in FIPS 180-4. They give SHA-256-sized output at SHA-512 speed on 64-bit machines, and they resist length extension — a genuinely better default on modern servers.
- Is it used for Linux passwords?
- Yes — the $6$ prefix in /etc/shadow is SHA-512-crypt, which is SHA-512 iterated thousands of times with a salt. Note that plain SHA-512 alone is not password storage; the iteration and salting are what matter.
- How long is the digest?
- 512 bits, or 128 hexadecimal characters — the longest in the SHA-2 family and long enough that it is usually displayed wrapped.
- Why can it be slower on 32-bit hardware?
- Because it operates on 64-bit words. A 64-bit CPU handles those natively, which is why SHA-512 often beats SHA-256 there, but a 32-bit platform emulates every operation with two instructions and the advantage inverts.
- How many rounds does the crypt form use?
- The `$6$` scheme defaults to 5,000 iterations and accepts a `rounds=` parameter. That repetition is what makes it a password hash rather than a plain digest — SHA-512 on its own is far too fast for the job.
Common errors and gotchas
- Assuming more bits means proportionally more security for your actual threat. Against collisions, 256 bits is already ample.
- Expecting it to be fast on 32-bit or embedded hardware, where the 64-bit operations have to be emulated.
- Confusing the raw digest with the crypt form used for system passwords, which adds a salt and many rounds.
- Using the raw digest for passwords, where speed is the vulnerability.
- Assuming length extension does not apply. It does, to the full-width variant, exactly as with SHA-256.
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