diff --git a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd.go b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd.go
index 43922b6ff0..b2ef1f9932 100644
--- a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd.go
+++ b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd.go
@@ -13,6 +13,7 @@ import (
 	"ocm.software/ocm/api/ocm"
 	"ocm.software/ocm/api/ocm/compdesc"
 	common "ocm.software/ocm/api/utils/misc"
+	"ocm.software/ocm/api/utils/out"
 	"ocm.software/ocm/cmds/ocm/commands/common/options/closureoption"
 	ocmcommon "ocm.software/ocm/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/common"
 	"ocm.software/ocm/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/common/handlers/comphdlr"
@@ -180,17 +181,26 @@ func (h *action) Close() error {
 
 func (h *action) Out() error {
 	if len(h.norms) > 1 {
-		dir := h.mode.outfile
-		dir = strings.TrimSuffix(dir, ".ncd")
-		err := h.ctx.FileSystem().Mkdir(dir, 0o755)
-		if err != nil {
-			return fmt.Errorf("cannot create output dir %s", dir)
-		}
-		for k, n := range h.norms {
-			p := filepath.Join(dir, k.String())
-			err := h.write(p+".ncd", n)
+		if h.mode.outfile == "" || h.mode.outfile == "-" {
+			for _, n := range h.norms {
+				err := h.write(h.mode.outfile, n)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
+			}
+		} else {
+			dir := h.mode.outfile
+			dir = strings.TrimSuffix(dir, ".ncd")
+			err := h.ctx.FileSystem().Mkdir(dir, 0o755)
 			if err != nil {
-				return err
+				return fmt.Errorf("cannot create output dir %s", dir)
+			}
+			for k, n := range h.norms {
+				p := filepath.Join(dir, k.String())
+				err := h.write(p+".ncd", n)
+				if err != nil {
+					return err
+				}
 			}
 		}
 	} else {
@@ -202,12 +212,17 @@ func (h *action) Out() error {
 }
 
 func (h *action) write(p, n string) error {
-	dir := filepath.Dir(p)
-	err := h.ctx.FileSystem().MkdirAll(dir, 0o755)
-	if err != nil {
-		return fmt.Errorf("cannot create dir %s", dir)
+	if p == "" || p == "-" {
+		out.Outln(h.ctx, n)
+		return nil
+	} else {
+		dir := filepath.Dir(p)
+		err := h.ctx.FileSystem().MkdirAll(dir, 0o755)
+		if err != nil {
+			return fmt.Errorf("cannot create dir %s", dir)
+		}
+		return vfs.WriteFile(h.ctx.FileSystem(), p, []byte(n), 0o644)
 	}
-	return vfs.WriteFile(h.ctx.FileSystem(), p, []byte(n), 0o644)
 }
 
 /////////
diff --git a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd_test.go b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd_test.go
index 7783820f74..f79e2c1c05 100644
--- a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd_test.go
+++ b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/cmd_test.go
@@ -2,6 +2,8 @@ package hash_test
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/hex"
 	"fmt"
 
 	. "github.com/mandelsoft/goutils/testutils"
@@ -50,6 +52,48 @@ test.de/x v1      37f7f500d87f4b0a8765649f7c047db382e272b73e042805131df57279991b
 `))
 	})
 
+	It("normalize component archive v1", func() {
+		env.ComponentArchive(ARCH, accessio.FormatDirectory, COMP, VERSION, func() {
+			env.Provider(PROVIDER)
+		})
+
+		buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+		Expect(env.CatchOutput(buf).Execute("hash", "components", ARCH, "-O", "-", "-o", "norm")).To(Succeed())
+		Expect(buf.String()).To(Equal(`[{"component":[{"componentReferences":[]},{"name":"test.de/x"},{"provider":"mandelsoft"},{"resources":[]},{"version":"v1"}]},{"meta":[{"schemaVersion":"v2"}]}]
+`))
+	})
+
+	It("normalize component archive v2", func() {
+		env.ComponentArchive(ARCH, accessio.FormatDirectory, COMP, VERSION, func() {
+			env.Provider(PROVIDER)
+		})
+
+		buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+		Expect(env.CatchOutput(buf).Execute("hash", "components", ARCH, "-N", "jsonNormalisation/v2", "-o", "norm")).To(Succeed())
+		Expect(buf.String()).To(StringEqualTrimmedWithContext(`{"component":{"componentReferences":[],"name":"test.de/x","provider":{"name":"mandelsoft"},"resources":[],"sources":[],"version":"v1"}}
+`))
+	})
+
+	It("check hash", func() {
+		env.ComponentArchive(ARCH, accessio.FormatDirectory, COMP, VERSION, func() {
+			env.Provider(PROVIDER)
+		})
+
+		buf := bytes.NewBuffer(nil)
+		Expect(env.CatchOutput(buf).Execute("hash", "components", ARCH, "-o", "yaml")).To(Succeed())
+		Expect(buf.String()).To(StringEqualTrimmedWithContext(`
+---
+component: test.de/x
+context: []
+hash: 37f7f500d87f4b0a8765649f7c047db382e272b73e042805131df57279991b2b
+normalized: '[{"component":[{"componentReferences":[]},{"name":"test.de/x"},{"provider":"mandelsoft"},{"resources":[]},{"version":"v1"}]},{"meta":[{"schemaVersion":"v2"}]}]'
+version: v1
+`))
+
+		h := sha256.Sum256([]byte(`[{"component":[{"componentReferences":[]},{"name":"test.de/x"},{"provider":"mandelsoft"},{"resources":[]},{"version":"v1"}]},{"meta":[{"schemaVersion":"v2"}]}]`))
+		Expect(hex.EncodeToString(h[:])).To(Equal("37f7f500d87f4b0a8765649f7c047db382e272b73e042805131df57279991b2b"))
+	})
+
 	It("hash component archive with resources", func() {
 		env.ComponentArchive(ARCH, accessio.FormatDirectory, COMP, VERSION, func() {
 			env.Provider(PROVIDER)
diff --git a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/options.go b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/options.go
index d3165c732b..99346e88a2 100644
--- a/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/options.go
+++ b/cmds/ocm/commands/ocmcmds/components/hash/options.go
@@ -33,7 +33,7 @@ func (o *Option) AddFlags(fs *pflag.FlagSet) {
 	fs.BoolVarP(&o.Actual, "actual", "", false, "use actual component descriptor")
 	fs.BoolVarP(&o.Update, "update", "U", false, "update digests in component version")
 	fs.BoolVarP(&o.Verify, "verify", "V", false, "verify digests found in component version")
-	fs.StringVarP(&o.outfile, "outfile", "O", "norm.ncd", "Output file for normalized component descriptor")
+	fs.StringVarP(&o.outfile, "outfile", "O", "-", "Output file for normalized component descriptor")
 }
 
 func (o *Option) Complete(cmd *Command) error {