What is MD5?
MD5 is a message-digest algorithm. It's used to compute a hash value in cryptography. So what's a hash function then? Simply put, a hash function takes a block of data and returns a fixed-size bit string (hash value). The data used by hash functions is referred to as a "message", while the computed hash value is referred to as the "message digest".
MD5, like other hash functions, is used in digital signatures, message authentication codes, to index data in hash tables, for fingerprinting, to detect duplicate data, uniquely identify files, and as checksums to detect accidental data corruption.