SHA-512 Generator

Generate a 512-bit SHA-512 hash. The longest SHA-2 digest, common for file checksums and signatures.

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What is SHA-512?

The largest member of the SHA-2 family.

SHA-512 is the largest member of the SHA-2 family, published by NIST in 2001. It produces a 512-bit hash (128 hex characters) and works on 64-bit words in 1024-bit blocks, so on 64-bit CPUs without SHA instructions it often runs faster than SHA-256.

You'll meet it in file checksums (sha512sum), inside Ed25519 signatures, and as the engine behind SHA-384. Still not for password storage on its own: passwords need a deliberately slow algorithm like bcrypt, scrypt or argon2.

Frequently asked

Is SHA-512 more secure than SHA-256?

Both are unbroken. SHA-512's longer output gives a bigger margin (256-bit collision resistance against 128), but SHA-256 is already far beyond brute force, so pick the one your system expects.

Is SHA-512 faster than SHA-256?

Often, on 64-bit CPUs without SHA instructions, because it processes 128-byte blocks with 64-bit arithmetic. Many recent CPUs accelerate SHA-256 in hardware, which usually flips the result.

Can I use SHA-512 to hash passwords?

Not as a single plain hash: it's fast, which helps attackers guess. Use bcrypt or argon2. The $6$ sha512crypt hashes in Linux's /etc/shadow run thousands of salted rounds, which this tool doesn't do.