Although SHA-1 is being retired from security-critical roles, it remains common in legacy systems and content addressing. Paste any text below to see its 40-character SHA-1 digest update live — everything happens on your machine, nothing is uploaded.

SHA-1 at a glance
PropertyValue
Digest size160 bits (20 bytes)
Hex length40 characters
Block size512 bits
Designed1995 (NSA / NIST)
Secure for new systems?No — collisions demonstrated (2017)
Worked example
helloaaf4c61ddcc5e8a2dabede0f3b482cd9aea9434d

SHA-1 of "hello" is a quick way to confirm an implementation matches the standard.

Frequently asked questions

Why is SHA-1 considered insecure?

In 2017 researchers produced two different PDF files with the same SHA-1 digest (the SHADAttack), proving real-world collisions are feasible. As a result, browsers, certificate authorities, and security standards have deprecated SHA-1 for signatures.

Does Git still use SHA-1?

Historically Git identified every object with SHA-1, and most repositories still do. Git has added a hardened collision-detecting variant and is migrating toward SHA-256, but SHA-1 object IDs remain extremely common in practice.

How long is a SHA-1 hash?

Always 160 bits, which is 40 hexadecimal characters or 20 bytes, regardless of input length.

Is my input sent to a server?

No. The digest is generated in your browser using the built-in Web Crypto API. Your text stays on your device.

Related conversions

Need more options? Try the full Hash Generator.