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BLAKE2b

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BLAKE2b is a cryptographic hash function faster than MD5 and SHA-1 while being as secure as SHA-3. It was designed as a faster alternative to SHA-2 and is used in many modern applications including libsodium and WireGuard.

What is BLAKE2b?

BLAKE2b is a recommended cryptographic hash algorithm that produces a Configurable, up to 512 bits (typically 256 or 512 bits) output. BLAKE2b is a cryptographic hash function faster than MD5 and SHA-1 while being as secure as SHA-3. It was designed as a faster alternative to SHA-2 and is used in many modern applications including libsodium and WireGuard. It is classified as very fast in performance and commonly used for general-purpose secure hashing where speed matters and file integrity verification with strong security.

Output Length

Configurable, up to 512 bits (typically 256 or 512 bits)

Speed

Very Fast

Security

Recommended

Performance

Faster than SHA-256 and SHA-512 in software. Optimized for 64-bit platforms. One of the fastest secure hash functions available.

Use Cases

Example Hash

Input:

Hello, World!

BLAKE2b Output:

511bc81dde11180838c562c82bb35f3223f46061ebde4a955c27b3f489cf1e03

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Related Algorithms

SHA-256 Recommended
256 bits (64 hex characters)
SHA-3-256 Recommended
256 bits (64 hex characters)
BLAKE3 Recommended
Configurable, default 256 bits (64 hex characters)

Related Reading

SHA-256 vs SHA-512 vs MD5: Hash Algorithm Comparison → How to Create a Strong Password in 2026 → What Is JWT and How It Works →