Hex Editor: Helium

| File Size | Open Time | Search (4-byte hex) | Save modified | |-----------|-----------|---------------------|---------------| | 1 MB | <0.1 sec | 0.01 sec | 0.02 sec | | 1 GB | 1.2 sec | 0.8 sec | 1.5 sec | | 64 GB | 12 sec | 28 sec | 19 sec |

Note: Files larger than available RAM use memory-mapped I/O, reducing system load but slowing random access.

Article last updated: 2025. Helium version 2.4.1.

Here’s a concise review of Helium Hex Editor, a lightweight hex editing tool for Windows. helium hex editor

Many hex editors only copy "41 42 43". Helium copies in multiple formats:

Conversely, pasting supports similar formats – you can paste a C array directly, and Helium will parse it into bytes.

You can write a Lua script (not yet supported, but planned) or simply use the External Tools to call a Python script that computes anything and inserts the result. | File Size | Open Time | Search

Searching in raw binary data is non-trivial. Helium provides:

Performance tip: For a 10GB file, Helium uses memory-mapped search with progress indication and cancellation.

No tool is perfect. At the time of writing, Helium has a few drawbacks: Many hex editors only copy "41 42 43"

However, the team behind Helium has announced on their GitHub roadmap:

Given that Helium is open source, community contributions are welcome.