A UUID (Universally Unique Identifier) is a 128-bit number used to uniquely identify information in computer systems. UUIDs are standardized by the Open Software Foundation as part of the Distributed Computing Environment. The probability of duplicate UUIDs is astronomically low, making them ideal for distributed systems.
Our generator creates UUID version 4, which is randomly generated. The format follows a specific pattern defined in RFC 4122:
While not mathematically guaranteed, the probability of collision is so low (roughly 1 in 2.71 quintillion) that for all practical purposes, they are unique.
They are the same thing. Microsoft calls them GUIDs (Globally Unique Identifiers), while the rest of the world uses UUID. The format is identical.
UUID v4 is random but not cryptographically secure. For security tokens, use a proper CSPRNG from your programming language standard library.