diff --git a/iroh-base/src/base32.rs b/iroh-base/src/base32.rs
index 082e539056..a87153a166 100644
--- a/iroh-base/src/base32.rs
+++ b/iroh-base/src/base32.rs
@@ -1,4 +1,5 @@
 pub use data_encoding::{DecodeError, DecodeKind};
+use hex::FromHexError;
 
 /// Convert to a base32 string
 pub fn fmt(bytes: impl AsRef<[u8]>) -> String {
@@ -38,3 +39,29 @@ pub fn parse_array<const N: usize>(input: &str) -> Result<[u8; N], DecodeError>
 pub fn parse_vec(input: &str) -> Result<Vec<u8>, DecodeError> {
     data_encoding::BASE32_NOPAD.decode(input.to_ascii_uppercase().as_bytes())
 }
+
+/// Error when parsing a hex or base32 string.
+#[derive(thiserror::Error, Debug)]
+pub enum HexOrBase32ParseError {
+    /// Error when decoding the base32.
+    #[error("base32: {0}")]
+    Base32(#[from] data_encoding::DecodeError),
+    /// Error when decoding the public key.
+    #[error("hex: {0}")]
+    Hex(#[from] FromHexError),
+}
+
+/// Parse a fixed length hex or base32 string into a byte array
+///
+/// For fixed length we can know the encoding by the length of the string.
+pub fn parse_array_hex_or_base32<const LEN: usize>(
+    input: &str,
+) -> std::result::Result<[u8; LEN], HexOrBase32ParseError> {
+    let mut bytes = [0u8; LEN];
+    if input.len() == LEN * 2 {
+        hex::decode_to_slice(input, &mut bytes)?;
+        Ok(bytes)
+    } else {
+        Ok(parse_array(input)?)
+    }
+}
diff --git a/iroh-base/src/hash.rs b/iroh-base/src/hash.rs
index f4bf231e52..423be42722 100644
--- a/iroh-base/src/hash.rs
+++ b/iroh-base/src/hash.rs
@@ -7,6 +7,8 @@ use bao_tree::blake3;
 use postcard::experimental::max_size::MaxSize;
 use serde::{de, Deserialize, Deserializer, Serialize, Serializer};
 
+use crate::base32::{parse_array_hex_or_base32, HexOrBase32ParseError};
+
 /// Hash type used throughout.
 #[derive(PartialEq, Eq, Copy, Clone, Hash)]
 pub struct Hash(blake3::Hash);
@@ -118,32 +120,10 @@ impl fmt::Display for Hash {
 }
 
 impl FromStr for Hash {
-    type Err = anyhow::Error;
+    type Err = HexOrBase32ParseError;
 
     fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
-        let sb = s.as_bytes();
-        if sb.len() == 64 {
-            // this is most likely a hex encoded hash
-            // try to decode it as hex
-            let mut bytes = [0u8; 32];
-            if hex::decode_to_slice(sb, &mut bytes).is_ok() {
-                return Ok(Self::from(bytes));
-            }
-        }
-        anyhow::ensure!(sb.len() == 52, "invalid base32 length");
-        // this is a base32 encoded hash, we can decode it directly
-        let mut t = [0u8; 52];
-        t.copy_from_slice(sb);
-        // hack since data_encoding doesn't have BASE32LOWER_NOPAD as a const
-        std::str::from_utf8_mut(t.as_mut())
-            .unwrap()
-            .make_ascii_uppercase();
-        // decode the bytes
-        let mut res = [0u8; 32];
-        data_encoding::BASE32_NOPAD
-            .decode_mut(&t, &mut res)
-            .map_err(|_e| anyhow::anyhow!("invalid base32"))?;
-        Ok(Self::from(res))
+        parse_array_hex_or_base32(s).map(Hash::from)
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/iroh-net/src/key.rs b/iroh-net/src/key.rs
index 854b0d3be1..d7744e3a29 100644
--- a/iroh-net/src/key.rs
+++ b/iroh-net/src/key.rs
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ use std::{
 
 pub use ed25519_dalek::{Signature, PUBLIC_KEY_LENGTH};
 use ed25519_dalek::{SignatureError, SigningKey, VerifyingKey};
-use iroh_base::base32;
+use iroh_base::base32::{self, HexOrBase32ParseError};
 use once_cell::sync::OnceCell;
 use rand_core::CryptoRngCore;
 use serde::{Deserialize, Serialize};
@@ -236,7 +236,7 @@ impl Display for PublicKey {
 pub enum KeyParsingError {
     /// Error when decoding the base32.
     #[error("decoding: {0}")]
-    Base32(#[from] data_encoding::DecodeError),
+    Base32(#[from] HexOrBase32ParseError),
     /// Error when decoding the public key.
     #[error("key: {0}")]
     Key(#[from] ed25519_dalek::SignatureError),
@@ -249,9 +249,8 @@ impl FromStr for PublicKey {
     type Err = KeyParsingError;
 
     fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
-        let bytes = data_encoding::BASE32_NOPAD.decode(s.to_ascii_uppercase().as_bytes())?;
-        let key = PublicKey::try_from(&bytes[..])?;
-        Ok(key)
+        let bytes = base32::parse_array_hex_or_base32::<32>(s)?;
+        Ok(Self::try_from(bytes.as_ref())?)
     }
 }
 
@@ -278,7 +277,7 @@ impl FromStr for SecretKey {
     type Err = KeyParsingError;
 
     fn from_str(s: &str) -> Result<Self, Self::Err> {
-        Ok(SecretKey::from(base32::parse_array::<32>(s)?))
+        Ok(SecretKey::from(base32::parse_array_hex_or_base32::<32>(s)?))
     }
 }
 
@@ -402,12 +401,9 @@ mod tests {
 
     #[test]
     fn test_public_key_postcard() {
-        let public_key = PublicKey::try_from(
-            hex::decode("ae58ff8833241ac82d6ff7611046ed67b5072d142c588d0063e942d9a75502b6")
-                .unwrap()
-                .as_slice(),
-        )
-        .unwrap();
+        let public_key =
+            PublicKey::from_str("ae58ff8833241ac82d6ff7611046ed67b5072d142c588d0063e942d9a75502b6")
+                .unwrap();
         let bytes = postcard::to_stdvec(&public_key).unwrap();
         let expected =
             parse_hexdump("ae58ff8833241ac82d6ff7611046ed67b5072d142c588d0063e942d9a75502b6")