BLAKE2

BLAKE2 is a hash function designed by Jean-Philippe Aumasson et al.; faster than MD5 with security comparable to SHA-3, a high-performance alternative to SHA-2/3.

Purpose

Delivers higher software performance than SHA-2/3 while keeping a modern security level.

Mechanism

An improvement of BLAKE (a SHA-3 finalist), using ChaCha-style ARX quarter-rounds over a state of sixteen 64-bit words. BLAKE2b outputs 512 bits (optimized for 64-bit platforms); BLAKE2s outputs 256 bits (32-bit platforms).

Use cases

High-performance file hashing
WireGuard public key hashing
Default fast hash in Python hashlib
Content-addressed storage

Examples

Input
```
hello
```
Output
```
e4cfa39b41e2b1c8e1c8e1c8...
```
BLAKE2b-512 output

Common errors

Misusing BLAKE2 as a password hash (no salt/iterations): Use Argon2 or a BLAKE2-wrap KDF

Related terms

SHA-256 is the 256-bit-output member of the SHA-2 family, widely used in TLS, blockchains, and cryptographic applications, with no known practical attacks.

SHA-3 is the hash standard based on the Keccak sponge construction; structurally entirely different from SHA-2, it serves as a fallback in case SHA-2 is broken.

BLAKE3 further optimizes BLAKE2 with binary-tree parallelization; far faster than BLAKE2, it also supports XOF and MAC modes.

MD5 is a 128-bit cryptographic hash function designed by Ronald Rivest; proven insecure by collision attacks, it is now used only for non-security purposes such as checksums.

Related tools

BLAKE2 / BLAKE3 Hash

Compute BLAKE2b, BLAKE2s, and BLAKE3 hashes. Free, private, and 100% client-side.

Hash Calculator

Compute MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, or SHA-512 hashes with hex or Base64 output. Free, private, and 100% client-side.

References