Free tool

File hash checker, MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512.

A file hash is a short fingerprint of a file. Drop a file here to get its MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512, then paste the hash a website gave you to see a green match or a red no match. It is a file hash check and an MD5 file checker in one, it reads files of any size piece by piece, and the file never leaves your Mac.

Drop files here, or click to choose Any file, any size, one or many. It is only read on your computer.

Your files are read in your browser and never uploaded. Only small pieces are held in memory at a time.

How it works

Fingerprint, then compare.

01 / Read

Four hashes at once

The file is read in 8 MB pieces and fed to MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 side by side, each in its own background worker.

02 / Paste

Say what you expect

Paste the hash from the download page. The page sees from its length which kind it is: 32, 40, 64 or 128 characters.

03 / Compare

Green or red

A match turns the card green. Even one different character turns it red, and the file should not be trusted.

Guide

How to check a file hash before you open the file.

A file hash is a fixed-length string worked out from every byte of a file. Change one byte and the hash changes completely, so comparing the hash of the file you downloaded with the hash the publisher lists tells you whether your copy is complete and unchanged. This file hash checker works out the MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256 and SHA-512 of any file in your browser and compares them with the hash you paste, with a clear green or red answer.

How to use the file hash checker

Drop one or more files on the box, or click it to choose them. A big file is fine: it is read in pieces and a progress bar shows how far it is.
Find the hash on the page you downloaded from. It is often called checksum, SHA-256 or MD5.
Paste it into Hash to check against. The card of each file turns green with a match, or red with no match.
To copy a hash, press Copy next to it. Copy all hashes copies one line per hash with the file name.
Untick the hashes you do not need under Hashes to work out. It is faster, and the page remembers your choice.

Which hash is which

Hash	Length	Use it when
MD5	32 characters	An older site only lists MD5. Fine for spotting a damaged download.
SHA-1	40 characters	Old software and Git. Same use as MD5.
SHA-256	64 characters	The usual choice today for downloads and installers.
SHA-512	128 characters	Some Linux images and security tools publish it.

MD5 and SHA-1 still catch a download that broke on the way. They are weak against someone who builds a file on purpose to match, and NIST says it deprecated SHA-1 in 2011 (NIST hash functions page, checked 26 Oct 2026). When a choice exists, compare SHA-256 or SHA-512.

A worked example you can repeat

Make a file whose only content is the three letters abc, with no new line at the end. In the Terminal, printf abc > abc.txt does it. Drop it here and you should see these four hashes:

Hash	Result for the three bytes abc
MD5	900150983cd24fb0d6963f7d28e17f72
SHA-1	a9993e364706816aba3e25717850c26c9cd0d89d
SHA-256	ba7816bf8f01cfea414140de5dae2223b00361a396177a9cb410ff61f20015ad

These match what the Mac's own shasum and md5 print for the same file. An empty file has an MD5 of d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e, a good sign that nothing was read twice. If you add a new line after abc, every hash changes. That is the whole idea.

Check a download on a Mac with the Terminal

No tool is needed on a Mac. Open Terminal, type the command, a space, and drag the file into the window so its path appears, then press Return:

shasum -a 256 file prints the SHA-256. Use -a 1 for SHA-1 and -a 512 for SHA-512.
md5 file prints the MD5.
If you have a checksum list, shasum -a 256 -c checksums.txt checks every file in it and prints OK or FAILED.

On Windows, PowerShell has Get-FileHash file, which gives SHA-256 unless you add -Algorithm MD5.

Several files at once

Drop a whole folder's worth of files together. Paste the contents of a checksum list, such as a SHA256SUMS file, and each file is matched by its name and gets its own green or red card. When the pasted list holds one hash only, every file is compared with it.

If the hashes do not match

Check the hash is for this exact file and version, and the same kind: a SHA-256 never matches an MD5.
Download again, ideally on a stable connection, and check the new copy. A broken download is the usual reason.
If it still fails, do not open the file. Download from the publisher's own site.
A hash copied from a site you do not trust proves nothing, because anyone can publish a hash for a changed file.

To bundle files before sending them, try the ZIP file maker, and to open an archive you downloaded, the unzip files page. Need a strong secret? Use the password generator.

Questions

Good to know.

How do I check a file hash?

Drop the file on this page, then paste the hash from the download page into the box on the right. If the card turns green, the file matches. If it turns red, it does not. You can also compare by eye, since the hashes are shown in full.

How do I check the MD5 of a file?

Drop the file here and read the MD5 line, or paste the 32-character hash you were given and see the match. On a Mac you can also type md5, a space, and drag the file into the Terminal window.

Is the file uploaded anywhere?

No. The hashes are worked out by your browser, on your computer. The page never sends a file or a hash to a server.

Does it work with very large files?

Yes. The file is read in 8 MB pieces and each piece is dropped after it is used, so memory use stays small whatever the file size. A big file just takes longer, and the progress bar shows how far along it is.

Why are there four different hashes?

Websites publish different kinds. They are different recipes for the same job, so they give different strings for the same file. Compare like with like: a SHA-256 with a SHA-256.

Is SHA-256 better than MD5?

For proving that nobody changed a file on purpose, yes. MD5 and SHA-1 are still fine to spot a download that was damaged on the way, but SHA-256 and SHA-512 are the safer ones to compare.

Does it matter if the hash is in capital letters?

Nothing changes. A hash written in capitals is the same hash as one in small letters, and the page compares them without caring about case. Spaces and a name after the hash are ignored too.

Can I hash text instead of a file?

This page is for files. Save the text as a file first and drop it here. Remember that a new line at the end counts as a byte and changes every hash.