SHA-256 Hash & File Checksum
Generate a SHA-256 hash from UTF-8 text or a local file. Compare a 64-character checksum, check download integrity and see a worked example in your browser.
Your result will appear here.
How to generate and check a SHA-256 hash
- Enter text or choose a local file; a selected file takes precedence over the text.
- To check a download, paste only its expected 64-character checksum from a trusted source.
- Calculate, compare the result, then copy or download the complete hash.
Working with SHA-256 Hash & File Checksum
A matching SHA-256 checksum shows that two inputs have the same hash, but you must obtain the expected checksum from a trusted source. This is a hash function, not reversible encryption or a password-storage scheme.
SHA-256 example: the standard abc test vector
- Input
abc- Result
ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad
Questions about SHA-256 Hash & File Checksum
What does a 64-character SHA-256 hash represent?
SHA-256 produces a 256-bit digest, displayed here as 64 lowercase hexadecimal characters, including leading zeros. Text is encoded as UTF-8; files are hashed as exact bytes. The limits are 8 MiB of text and 32 MiB per file.
How do I verify a downloaded file with SHA-256?
Choose the file and paste the expected hash only, without a filename or SHA256: prefix. Comparison ignores letter case and whitespace at the ends. Get the checksum from a trusted source: if an attacker replaces both the file and checksum, a match does not establish authenticity.
Why does my SHA-256 result differ from another tool?
The bytes must match exactly. Spaces, a final newline, CRLF versus LF, a UTF-8 BOM and different Unicode representations can change the hash. Input is not trimmed or normalized. Filenames and paths are not hashed. SHA-256 is different from SHA3-256, SHA-512/256 and double SHA-256.
Can SHA-256 be decrypted or used to store passwords?
A hash is not reversible encryption, and this tool does not recover passwords or verify digital signatures. For password storage, use a dedicated password-hashing scheme such as Argon2id. For a keyed message authentication code, use the HMAC tool with HMAC-SHA-256; plain SHA-256 does not authenticate a sender.
Are my files, tokens or text uploaded?
No. These tools process your input in your browser. The website serves the page and its code, but your input is not sent to a conversion server or saved in an account.
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