SHA3-224 hash generator
SHA3-224 is the shortest fixed-length member of the SHA-3 family. It produces a 224-bit digest (56 hex characters) using the Keccak sponge construction standardised in FIPS 202. This SHA3-224 generator hashes text or files directly in your browser.
Example
Input:
The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dogSHA3-224 hash:
d15dadceaa4d5d7bb3b48f446421d542e08ad8887305e28d58335795The SHA3-224 of an empty input begins 6b4e03423667dbb73b6e1545…; compare it with official FIPS 202 test vectors when validating an implementation.
SHA-3 vs SHA-2
SHA-3 is not an upgrade of SHA-2 but a completely different design. After the attacks on MD5 and SHA-1, NIST ran an open competition (2007–2012) to obtain a backup hash based on different mathematics. The winner, Keccak by Bertoni, Daemen, Peeters and Van Assche, became FIPS 202 in 2015. Instead of the Merkle–Damgård structure, it uses a sponge: input is absorbed into a 1600-bit state and output is squeezed out, with 24 rounds of the Keccak-f permutation in between. SHA-2 remains secure, so SHA3-224 is chosen mainly for diversity, length-extension resistance or where a specification requires it.
SHA3-224 at a glance
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Digest size | 224 bits (28 bytes, 56 hex characters) |
| Rate / capacity | 1152 / 448 bits of the 1600-bit state |
| Collision resistance | About 112 bits |
| Preimage resistance | About 224 bits |
| Length extension | Not vulnerable |
The large rate — 144 bytes absorbed per permutation — makes SHA3-224 the fastest of the fixed-length SHA-3 functions. The capacity of 448 bits (twice the output size) is what provides its security.
When to use it
- Specifications or test suites that call for SHA3-224 explicitly.
- Systems that pair SHA-3 with 224-bit elliptic curves or need a compact digest with SHA-3’s design diversity.
- Verifying FIPS 202 implementations across the whole family.
For general use, SHA3-256 is more common and gives 128-bit collision resistance. If you are working with Ethereum, note that it uses the original Keccak padding, not SHA-3 — use the Keccak Hash Generator there. SHA-3 functions are fast hashes and are not suitable for storing passwords.
In code: Python hashlib.sha3_224(data).hexdigest(), OpenSSL openssl dgst -sha3-224 file. The tool hashes text as UTF-8 and runs locally.
SHA3-224 or SHA-224?
The names differ by one character, but the functions have nothing in common apart from the output length. SHA-224 belongs to the SHA-2 family and is a truncated variant of SHA-256 with different starting values, while SHA3-224 uses the Keccak sponge. Both print 56 hex characters, so a length check cannot tell them apart.
If a published checksum does not match, paste it into Compare with an expected hash. The tool reports whether it equals the SHA3-224 result or names the algorithm it does match, such as SHA-224 or Keccak-224, which settles the question in one step. Also make sure you are hashing the exact file bytes; a copied text version with different line endings produces a completely different digest.