How do I check the hash of a file?

Drop the file on the box, wait for the progress bar to finish, and compare the SHA-256 (or other) value with the one the publisher lists. Paste it in the Expected hash box to compare automatically.

No. The file is read and hashed in your browser. It never goes to our server.

Which algorithm should I choose?

Use the one that the publisher lists. If they list several, use SHA-256 or SHA-512, which are the strongest.

Can I hash a very large file?

Yes. The file is read in pieces, so memory use stays small, and a progress bar shows how far it is.

What does it mean when the hash does not match?

Your file is not byte for byte the same as the original. It may be damaged, incomplete or another version, or you may be comparing a different algorithm.

Does the file name or date change the hash?

No. Only the content of the file counts.

File Hash Checker: MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 of Any File

Choose a file and get its checksum. Paste the hash from the download page and the tool tells you at once whether the file is the right one.

What this file hash checker does

It reads one or more files in your browser, in small pieces, and calculates their MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384, SHA-512 and CRC-32. Large files are fine because the file is never loaded into memory in one piece, and you see a progress bar. Nothing is uploaded: the file does not leave your computer.

How to verify a download

Find the checksum on the publisher page. It is often called SHA256, SHA-256 or checksum, and is a string of 64 hex characters (32 for MD5, 40 for SHA-1).
Drop the downloaded file on the box above. SHA-256 is selected by default.
Paste the checksum from the page into the Expected hash box.
Read the result. Match means that every byte of your file is the same as the original. No match means that the file is damaged or different. Download it again, and check that you picked the right algorithm.

Reading the expected hash

The tool recognizes the algorithm from the length of the hash: 8 hex digits for CRC-32, 32 for MD5, 40 for SHA-1, 64 for SHA-256, 96 for SHA-384 and 128 for SHA-512. Spaces, upper case letters and a prefix such as sha256: are ignored.

What a match does and does not prove

A match proves that your copy is identical to the file the checksum was made for.
It does not prove that the file is safe. If an attacker can change the download, they can often change the checksum on the same page. Prefer checksums that you get from a different, trusted place, and signatures (for example GPG or code signing) where they are offered.
MD5 and SHA-1 can be forged by a determined attacker. Use SHA-256 when the publisher offers it.

The same check on your computer

# Windows (PowerShell)
Get-FileHash .\file.iso -Algorithm SHA256
certutil -hashfile file.iso SHA256

# macOS
shasum -a 256 file.iso
md5 file.iso

# Linux
sha256sum file.iso
md5sum file.iso

# Check a published list of checksums
sha256sum -c SHA256SUMS

Copy the result as a checksum list

The Copy checksums button gives you one line per file, in the format hash filename. This is the format of the sha256sum and md5sum tools, so you can save the lines in a file called SHA256SUMS and check the files later with sha256sum -c.

Why a file hash can differ

The download was cut off or damaged. Try again.
You compared the wrong algorithm, for example SHA-1 against a SHA-256 value.
A text file was converted between LF and CRLF line breaks by a tool or by Git.
The checksum belongs to another version of the file, or to the compressed archive and not to the file inside it.

Speed

Speed depends on your computer and on how many algorithms you pick, because each one reads the whole file. A modern computer manages in the order of 100 MB per second for each algorithm, so a 4 GB file takes about a minute for SHA-256 alone. To go faster, turn off the algorithms you do not need.

To hash text, use the hash generator, the SHA256 generator, the SHA1 generator or the MD5 generator. The hash functions guide explains how checksums work.

File Hash Checker

Result