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I tried ImHex…found it way too complex for most of what I wanted to do. I’m still a huge fan of Hex Fiend on macOS - simple, fast, does what I want. I still hav

I tried ImHex…found it way too complex for most of what I wanted to do. I’m still a huge fan of Hex Fiend on macOS - simple, fast, does what I want. I still haven’t found the perfect “simple” hex editor on Windows.

nine_k 2y ago
Have you tried Hiew?
- nneonneo 2y ago
  No, hadn’t heard about it. Seems interesting, sort of “vim for hex” like. I might give it a spin.
  - andrewshadura 2y ago
    Actually ncedit for hex.
    - SomeoneFromCA 2y ago
      You must be from ex-USSR.
MontagFTB 2y ago
+1 for HexFiend. Their template format is straightforward to extend. I’ve used it to analyze many different file formats. I also tried ImHex briefly. I have a ton of respect for the project, but found for my needs it was like using a cannon to kill a housefly.
deleted 2y ago
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s1gsegv 2y ago
Interesting, I find HxD on Windows to be the absolute peak of hex editors with no real parallels on macOS or Linux. Which is a shame because I never use Windows. Hex Fiend for instance is my hex editor on macOS, but why does it insist on reflowing the lines when I expand the window? I might just want to work with it maximized to avoid visual distractions, but I still only want lines to be 16 or 32 bytes long, and definitely not some weird size that will make things not line up.
- GordonS 2y ago
  +1 for HxD, been using it on Windows for a long while now, and it's the best he editor I've tried. Haven't tried ImHex yet, mind.
- markus_zhang 2y ago
  I use HxD as well. It is an interesting and fast tool.
  - s1gsegv 2y ago
    This is the other thing with HxD and I think it's very important for a hex editor, it handles huge amounts of data in the correct way. HxD can open entire block devices, or per-process/whole system RAM, and it all works without bogging down. I've tried a lot of lesser hex editors that get cooked the moment you try to open a 4GB file. I don't know if the field I'm in skews this, but most of the time if I'm looking at a file in a hex editor, it's relatively large and I need to find a tiny amount of information in it.
- bri3d 2y ago
  I use HxD in Wine because I can't find anything that works better. I use and really like Imhex for what it is but it's a different kind of tool imho - more of a plugin canvas for analysis than just a hex editor with some bells and whistles.
- omneity 2y ago
  Just wanted to mention that Hex Fiend is simply the fastest editor ever (on Mac). I threw gigabytes-sized files at it and it still manages to open them instantly, to the extent that I also use it as a plaintext editor in some extreme cases.

nine_k 2y ago

Have you tried Hiew?

nneonneo 2y ago
No, hadn’t heard about it. Seems interesting, sort of “vim for hex” like. I might give it a spin.
- andrewshadura 2y ago
  Actually ncedit for hex.
  - SomeoneFromCA 2y ago
    You must be from ex-USSR.

MontagFTB 2y ago

+1 for HexFiend. Their template format is straightforward to extend. I’ve used it to analyze many different file formats. I also tried ImHex briefly. I have a ton of respect for the project, but found for my needs it was like using a cannon to kill a housefly.

deleted 2y ago

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s1gsegv 2y ago

Interesting, I find HxD on Windows to be the absolute peak of hex editors with no real parallels on macOS or Linux. Which is a shame because I never use Windows. Hex Fiend for instance is my hex editor on macOS, but why does it insist on reflowing the lines when I expand the window? I might just want to work with it maximized to avoid visual distractions, but I still only want lines to be 16 or 32 bytes long, and definitely not some weird size that will make things not line up.

GordonS 2y ago
+1 for HxD, been using it on Windows for a long while now, and it's the best he editor I've tried. Haven't tried ImHex yet, mind.
markus_zhang 2y ago
I use HxD as well. It is an interesting and fast tool.
- s1gsegv 2y ago
  This is the other thing with HxD and I think it's very important for a hex editor, it handles huge amounts of data in the correct way. HxD can open entire block devices, or per-process/whole system RAM, and it all works without bogging down. I've tried a lot of lesser hex editors that get cooked the moment you try to open a 4GB file. I don't know if the field I'm in skews this, but most of the time if I'm looking at a file in a hex editor, it's relatively large and I need to find a tiny amount of information in it.
bri3d 2y ago
I use HxD in Wine because I can't find anything that works better. I use and really like Imhex for what it is but it's a different kind of tool imho - more of a plugin canvas for analysis than just a hex editor with some bells and whistles.
omneity 2y ago
Just wanted to mention that Hex Fiend is simply the fastest editor ever (on Mac). I threw gigabytes-sized files at it and it still manages to open them instantly, to the extent that I also use it as a plaintext editor in some extreme cases.