UUID Generator – Generate UUID v4 Instantly

What is a UUID?

A Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) is a 128-bit label used for information in computer systems. The standard UUID format consists of 32 hexadecimal digits displayed in five groups separated by hyphens (8-4-4-4-12), such as 123e4567-e89b-12d3-a456-426614174000.

What is UUID v4?

UUID version 4 is based on randomness. Unlike version 1, which uses a combination of timestamps and MAC addresses, v4 relies on pseudo-random numbers to ensure uniqueness. With 122 bits of randomness, the probability of a collision is so low that it is practically zero for any real-world distributed system.

When Should You Use a UUID?

UUIDs are the industry standard for identifying resources in environments where coordination is difficult or impossible. Common use cases include:

• Databases: Using UUIDs as primary keys to allow easy merging of records from different databases.
• Distributed Systems: Generating identifiers across multiple microservices without a central authority.
• APIs: Providing unguessable identifiers for external-facing resources like transaction IDs or user profile links.

Is This UUID Generator Secure?

Security and privacy are the core of our tool. This generator uses the Web Crypto API(specifically crypto.getRandomValues) to ensure high-entropy randomness. Crucially, all generations occur client-side. No data is sent to our servers, and we do not store or track the UUIDs you generate.

For applications requiring high-security authentication, you may also need aJWT secret key generator to secure your tokens.

UUID vs GUID

GUID (Globally Unique Identifier) is a term primarily used by Microsoft. Functionally, a GUID is identical to a UUID. While the underlying byte order might differ in some older binary representations, in string form (RFC 4122), they are exactly the same thing.