xxhash

What hackers pick instead

• BLAKE3Free cryptographic hash function that is very fast and parallelizable, and that people often pick over SHA-256 for speed.16recommend
• libsodiumDevelopers recommend it for solid cryptography primitives with one blessed algorithm each; the common caveat is that its primitives don't always fit the need.10recommend
• AWS-LCRecommended as an OpenSSL-API alternative for low-level cryptography, often alongside BoringSSL. Critics note it is awkward to use outside C, C++ and Rust.10recommend
• pyca/cryptographyRecommended as a well-designed, fast Python cryptography library with a solid API and tests. Common caveat: it now needs the Rust toolchain to build.8recommend
• BoringSSLRecommended as a low-level TLS and crypto library, and was unaffected by several January 2026 OpenSSL advisories.7recommend

Every quote

The 10 most detailed of 10 comments. Each links to the original.

1. xxhash is better than crc32 for hashing keys in a hash table, but both of them are inappropriate for file checksums

   Mixed · Jan 2026 · in “Libbbf: Bound Book Format, A high-performance container for comics and manga”

2. From SMHasher test results quality of xxhash seems higher. It has less bias / higher uniformity that CRC.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Libbbf: Bound Book Format, A high-performance container for comics and manga”

3. 40x faster than the fastest JavaScript version I can find. Drop in replacement.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Increasing the performance of WebAssembly Text Format parser by 350%”

4. I'm pretty sure xxhash is a straight upgrade compared to CRC32.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Libbbf: Bound Book Format, A high-performance container for comics and manga”

5. xxHash, rapidHash or anything that’s fast will do the job.

   Recommends · Jul 2026 · in “DskDitto: Ultra-fast, parallel duplicate-file detector”

6. I was getting 2x perf when using xxhash3 instead of wyhash

   Recommends · Feb 2026 · in “Two Bits Are Better Than One: making bloom filters 2x more accurate”

7. Why not use a faster hashing algorithm like xxhash?

   Recommends · Nov 2025 · in “The Challenge of Large File Checksums”

8. xxhash is definitely an improvement over CRC32.

   Recommends · Jan 2026 · in “Libbbf: Bound Book Format, A high-performance container for comics and manga”

9. xxh3 is ~1.6x to 1.8x faster than xxh64

   Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “Show HN: Compute polynomials twice as fast”

10. xxhash is the best modern option.

    Recommends · Sep 2026 · in “GEFS on OpenBSD: A Early Preview”