What is RIPEMD-160 used for?

RIPEMD-160 produces a compact 160-bit (40 hex character) digest. Its best-known use is Bitcoin address derivation, where an address comes from HASH160 — RIPEMD-160 applied to a SHA-256 hash of the public key.

Is RIPEMD-160 secure?

RIPEMD-160 has no known practical collision attacks and is still used in Bitcoin. However, its 160-bit output is shorter than modern hashes like SHA-256, so for new general-purpose security work a longer hash is usually preferred.

No. The hash is computed entirely in your browser in pure JavaScript — nothing leaves your device.

What is HASH160 in Bitcoin?

HASH160 means RIPEMD-160(SHA-256(data)). Bitcoin applies it to a public key to produce the 20-byte hash that becomes the wallet address. This tool computes the RIPEMD-160 step on text you provide.

How long is a RIPEMD-160 hash?

It is 160 bits, which is 20 bytes or 40 hexadecimal characters, regardless of how long the input is. Even an empty string produces a fixed 40-character digest.

Is the same input always the same hash?

Yes. Hash functions are deterministic, so identical input always yields the identical RIPEMD-160 output. Changing a single character changes the whole hash unpredictably.

Can I reverse a RIPEMD-160 hash to get the original text?

No. It is a one-way function — there is no way to compute the input from the digest. The only approach is guessing inputs and hashing them, which is why hashes are used for fingerprints and address derivation, not encryption.

RIPEMD-160 Hash Generator

RIPEMD-160 is a 160-bit cryptographic hash that produces a 40-character hex digest from any input. It is most widely known from Bitcoin, where a wallet address is derived using HASH160 — RIPEMD-160 applied to a SHA-256 hash of the public key.

How it works

RIPEMD-160 is a one-way hash function: it takes input of any length and produces a fixed 160-bit (20-byte, 40 hex character) output. Internally it processes the message in 512-bit blocks through two parallel lines of compression rounds, then combines them, which is what gives it the “RIPE” double-pipeline design. The result is deterministic (same input → same hash) and avalanching (a one-character change produces a completely different digest), but not reversible. This tool runs the algorithm in pure JavaScript in your browser, so the text you hash never leaves your device.

Example

Hashing the text abc gives:

8eb208f7e05d987a9b044a8e98c6b087f15a0bfc

Hashing an empty string gives the fixed digest:

9c1185a5c5e9fc54612808977ee8f548b2258d31

Property	Value
Output size	160 bits / 40 hex chars
Reversible	No (one-way)
Main use	Bitcoin HASH160 address derivation

The hash is computed entirely in your browser; nothing is ever uploaded.