File Checksum Generator
Generate checksums for files to verify integrity. SHA-256 and MD5 hash comparison.
Open Hash Generator →What is a File Checksum?
A checksum is a hash value computed from a file's contents. By comparing the checksum of a downloaded file against the publisher's expected value, you can verify the file wasn't corrupted during transfer or tampered with. SHA-256 is the standard for security-sensitive verification (software downloads, firmware). MD5 is faster and still used for simple corruption detection where tampering isn't a concern.
How to Verify File Checksums
- Windows:
certutil -hashfile file.zip SHA256 - macOS:
shasum -a 256 file.zip - Linux:
sha256sum file.zip
Compare the output with the expected hash from the download page. If they match exactly, the file is intact. Even a single bit difference produces a completely different hash.
# Linux / macOS
sha256sum ubuntu-22.04.iso
md5sum ubuntu-22.04.iso
# Windows PowerShell
Get-FileHash file.zip -Algorithm SHA256
# Compare checksums
echo "expected_hash file.zip" | sha256sum -c
# Python
import hashlib
with open('file.zip', 'rb') as f:
sha256 = hashlib.sha256(f.read()).hexdigest()