This page is part of the HexEd.it User Manual.

HexEd.it - the client-side JavaScript based hex editor, can be found at https://hexed.it

Feature Overview

General Features

Free

HexEd.it is completely free for commercial and non-commercial use.

Runs in all modern browsers without installation

HexEd.it runs in any modern browser, that you usually have already installed - no matter if it is Mozilla Firefox 79+, Google Chrome 84+, Opera 70+, Apple Safari 14.1+, Microsoft Edge 84+

There is no need to download and install proprietary software or juggle with executables, that need to be copied to USB sticks or network drives to make them "portable".

Anyhow, if you prefer an icon on your desktop or home screen, or if you want a more native look without the browsers UI, you can install HexEd.it as web-app in Google Chrome, Android and iOS. Beside that, HexEd.it is also available in the Microsoft Store.

Runs on mobile devices

It doesn't matter whether you use a desktop PC or a smartphone. HexEd.it runs everywhere.

Auto-update

Because HexEd.it is web-based, you'll always use the latest version if you are connected to the internet. No need to manually install updates.

Offline capability

Once HexEd.it has been automatically downloaded after the first visit, it can also be used without internet connection. The technology used here is called Service Workers.

Everything stays local

Local file processing: All file processing is done on your local computer. HexEd.it does not upload your data to the server.

Settings: Your settings are stored locally in your browser.

Security

The security of your data is very important to me.

HexEd.it uses HTTPS, a very restrictive Content Security Policy (CSP) and Feature Policy, Subresource Integrity (SRI) and various other techniques to prevent cross-site scripting and man-in-the-middle attacks by ISPs, proxies and browser extensions.

In contrast to installable software, browsers add an additional layer of security by limiting the ability of web apps. For example only files that you have explicitly selected can be read by HexEd.it; it's not possible to automatically overwrite files; or the interaction with the clipboard is restricted.

Data Handling

Basic file editing features

HexEd.it displays binary/hexadecimal data as a grid of cells with editable hex codes.

A text representation is shown aside of the hex codes, and supports more than 50 different encodings, including EBCDIC, IBM437, IBM866, ISO-8859-1 to -16, KOI8-R/-U and many more.

Here, you can enter data, select data, remove selections, insert data into files, delete binary data from files, save/load files. Modified data is highlighted.

Process large files even on low-RAM computers

HexEd.it can process files up to several terabytes. Your files are not kept in memory. This means that the displayed data is read directly from your hard drive. It also means there is no delay in opening and editing large files.

Using highly efficient algorithms, you can also create new files in memory up to 10 GiB in size, even if you don't have that much RAM.

Unlimited Undo/Redo steps

The modification history of HexEd.it is only limited by the capabilities of your browser.

Multiple document interface

With HexEd.it you can edit multiple files at the same time in a single browser tab.

Of course, you can also open the web app in several browser tabs or windows in parallel.

Data inspector

Data can be interpreted in different formats like 8/16/24/32/64 signed and unsigned integers, 16/32/64 bit floating-point numbers (IEEE 754), but also in LEB128 (Little Endian Base 128) and VLQ (Varible-length quantity) format, Rational/SRational (as used by the TIFF image format and Exif meta data), and numerous Date/Time formats. And all this in Little Endian (Intel format) and Big Endian (Motorola format).

Additionally, bit-wise editing is also possible.

HexEd.it is able to search for all supported number-based data types, but also for hexadecimal values (supporting wildcards), and texts (in more than 50 different encodings, including UTF-8, UTF-16, EBCDIC, IBM437, IBM866, ISO-8859-1 to -16, KOI8-R/-U and many more).

The search functionality can search step-by-step or by creating a list of all results (up to 10,000 offsets).

You can easily replace matches using the "Replace" function. In addition, the "Replace all" function allows you to efficiently replace all occurrences at once, which further streamlines the editing process.

Goto offset / Bookmarks

While analysing a file, you can memorize offsets to simply jump back to them.

You can also enter an offset, and directly jump to it.

Multiple selection support

You can select multiple ranges in a file at once, for example to export or to delete them.

Insert/delete bytes

Using HexEd.it you are able to add and remove any number of data.

Pasting from clipboard

By pasting data using Ctrl⌘ Cmd+V you can not only choose if you want to insert the data, overwrite the data or create a new file, but also how they should be interpreted. Supported types are plain text, hex values, Base64, Base64url and all of the data types supported by HexEd.it.

Drag & Drop

Instead of opening a file using the "Open file" dialog, you can also simply drag & drop files into HexEd.it.

Support for Motorola S-Record and Intel HEX files

HexEd.it decodes and encodes your Motorola S-Record and Intel HEX files. Including full editing support and the possibility to adjust the ranges which are stored in the file.

Export as code snippet

Export data in formats, which allow you to directly use them in other software or programming languages.

Supported formats are CSV, Hex grid, Plain data, Assember (x86), AssemblyScript, C, Go, JavaScript (ES6), Python, Rust and TypeScript.

Export as HexEd.it URL for sharing

Smaller files (up to a few hundred KiB) or ranges of files can be shared with others as HexEd.it URL.

The data will be LZJB compressed and Base64 encoded, to get an URL as short as possible.

They are appened as hash part to the HexEd.it URL, so that they stay at the client, and are not send to the HexEd.it server.

Beside that, URL Shortener services (is.gd and v.gd) are supported, to get even shorter URLs.

File Format Identification

You have a file, but don't know it's type? No problem! HexEd.it has a built-in file format identification, which detects more than 13,000 file types.

Histogram for data analysis and statistics

HexEd.it offers the possibility to calculate statistical information based on your data. In addition to descriptive statistics (mean, median, sample variance, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, average value), an entropy analysis can also be performed.

In a histogram, the distribution of bytes/characters, either for the entire file or for individual areas, is graphically displayed. Multiple selections are also supported here.

Compare Text Encodings

If you are unsure which character encoding (code page) is used for specific piece of text, you can view the selected bytes in dozens of different character encodings at the same time.

File Hash Generator

HexEd.it has a built-in file hash generator, which supports Adler-32*, BLAKE2b*, BLAKE2s*, BLAKE3*, CRC-8, CRC-8/CDMA2000, CRC-8/DARC, CRC-8/DVB-S2, CRC-8/EBU, CRC-8/I-CODE, CRC-8/ITU, CRC-8/MAXIM, CRC-8/ROHC, CRC-8/WCDMA, CRC-16/ARC, CRC-16/AUG-CCITT, CRC-16/BUYPASS, CRC-16/CCITT-FALSE, CRC-16/CDMA2000, CRC-16/DDS-110, CRC-16/DECT-R, CRC-16/DECT-X, CRC-16/DNP, CRC-16/EN-13757, CRC-16/GENIBUS, CRC-16/KERMIT, CRC-16/MAXIM, CRC-16/MCRF4XX, CRC-16/MODBUS, CRC-16/RIELLO, CRC-16/T10-DIF, CRC-16/TELEDISK, CRC-16/TMS37157, CRC-16/USB, CRC-16/X-25, CRC-16/XMODEM, CRC-A, CRC-32*, CRC-32/BZIP2, CRC-32/JAMCRC, CRC-32/MPEG-2, CRC-32/POSIX, CRC-32/SATA, CRC-32/XFER, CRC-32C, CRC-32D, CRC-32Q, MD4*, MD5*, RIPEMD-160*, SHA-1*, SHA-2* (SHA-224, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512), SHA-3* (SHA3-224, SHA3-256, SHA3-384, SHA3-512), SM3*, Sum, Keccak* (Keccak-224, Keccak-256, Keccak-384, Keccak-512), Whirlpool*, xxHash* (xxHash32, xxHash64, xxHash3 and xxHash128), XOR and HMAC* (with all these algorithms).

*) The Hash generator uses heavily optimized algorithms and is based on WebAssembly for highest performance.

File Hash Lookup

Using a hash generated by the file hash lookup function, you can look on different web platforms for this specific file, without to upload it.

Supported platforms are the Google Search, VirusTotal, MetaDefender Cloud, BitBaan MALab and Hybrid Analysis.

UI Features

Optimized for desktop and mobile devices

No matter if you are using a desktop PC, a notebook or a Smartphone. HexEd.it is optimized for all of them. Analysing files on your Android device? No problem!

Multilingual

HexEd.it is completely multilingual. It's translated into more than 40 languages, including right-to-left languages.

An included translation tool enables everyone to translate the UI into any language.

Color Themes

You can choose between Dark Mode, Light Mode and High constrast mode. The default setting is based on your system configuration.

Advanced formatting options

In HexEd.it, you cannot only configure number of columns and the grouping of bytes, but also their styling to fit your requirements.

Decide yourself of you want to see control characters as dot (normal hex editor behaviour), or as Unicode Control Pictures. Or if you want to use the HexII visualization, a compact binary representation mixing Hex and ASCII.

You prefer octal offsets, instead of hexadecimal? No problem, choose between binary, octal, decimal and hexadecimal!

Full keyboard support

The whole app can be controlled by Keyboard Shortcuts.

Adjustable zoom level

With the built-in zoom capabilities of your browser, you can easily increase the font size of HexEd.it if it's too small for you.

Printing

Use the built-in print capabilities of your browser to print the currently viewed data.

You miss a feature?

If you have any wishes for future releases, feel free to send me an email.