Choosing a Hash Algorithm — SHA-256, SHA-1, MD5

Cryptographic hashes map arbitrary data to a short fingerprint. Good hashes are fast to compute but hard to reverse or collide.

Guidance

• SHA-256 / SHA-512 for integrity and security-sensitive fingerprints.
• SHA-1 / MD5 only for legacy compatibility — not for new security designs.

Passwords are different

Password storage needs slow KDFs (Argon2, bcrypt, scrypt) with per-user salt. A plain SHA-256 of a password is dangerously fast to brute force.

Experiment with digests in the Hash Generator — all client-side.