UUID Generator

This tool allows you to generate Universally Unique Identifiers (UUIDs) instantly. UUIDs are widely used in databases, APIs, distributed systems, and microservices to uniquely identify records and entities.

What Is a UUID?

A UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is a 128-bit value designed to uniquely identify information in computer systems.

UUIDs are represented as 36-character strings, including hexadecimal digits and hyphens, making them easy to store and transmit.

Why UUIDs Are Used

UUIDs are commonly used when uniqueness must be guaranteed across systems, servers, or geographic regions without coordination.

• No central ID generator required
• Safe for distributed systems
• Low collision probability
• Language and platform independent

UUID Format Explained

A UUID follows this general structure:

xxxxxxxx-xxxx-Mxxx-Nxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx

• M indicates the UUID version
• N indicates the variant

UUID v4 (Random)

UUID v4 is generated using random numbers. It is the most commonly used UUID version.

Because of the large 128-bit space, the probability of collision is extremely low, even at massive scale.

UUID v4 is ideal for:

• Database primary keys
• Public identifiers
• API request IDs
• Event tracking

UUID v1 (Time-Based)

UUID v1 is generated using the current timestamp and the machine’s MAC address.

This makes UUID v1 roughly sortable by time, which can be useful in certain database or logging scenarios.

However, UUID v1 can expose system information such as MAC address and generation time.

UUID v4 vs UUID v1

Real-World Use Cases

• Primary keys in databases
• Correlation IDs in logs
• Microservice request tracing
• Message queue identifiers
• Public resource identifiers

UUIDs in Databases

UUIDs are often used instead of auto-increment integers in distributed systems.

However, UUIDs can increase index size and reduce performance if not handled carefully. Many systems use UUID v4 with optimized indexing or UUID-to-binary storage.

Advantages of UUIDs

• Guaranteed uniqueness at scale
• No coordination required
• Safe across systems and regions
• Hard to guess sequentially

Disadvantages and Trade-offs

• Larger than integer IDs
• Slower indexing in some databases
• Not human-friendly

Security and Privacy Considerations

UUID v4 is generally preferred for public identifiers because it does not expose system or time information.

Avoid using UUID v1 in publicly exposed URLs if privacy is a concern.

Best Practices

• Prefer UUID v4 for most use cases
• Avoid exposing UUID v1 publicly
• Use binary storage for performance-critical databases
• Do not rely on UUIDs for security

Who Should Use This Tool?

• Backend and API developers
• DevOps and platform engineers
• Database designers
• Students learning distributed systems

If you need unique identifiers without coordination, this UUID generator provides a fast and reliable solution.