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File Hash Calculator

Compute MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 checksums of a file in your browser and compare the result with a published checksum.

Choose a file

Hashing runs on this device; no part of the file or its name is sent.

Checksums

Choose a file to compute its checksums.

Digests appear here once a file is chosen.

Your file is never sent to a server. It is read and processed by your own browser, and the results are not stored.

How to use it

  1. Choose a file or drag it onto the drop area.
  2. Read the MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-384 and SHA-512 digests.
  3. Paste the checksum you were given to have it compared, or copy any digest.

Limits worth knowing

  • Files above 50 MB are refused. Hashing happens in this tab, and a larger file would block the page for an uncomfortably long time.
  • MD5 here is a legacy integrity checksum, not a security feature. The tool labels it that way rather than implying a broken digest is safe.
  • The whole file is read from this device; no part of it or its name is sent anywhere.
  • A checksum match cannot establish that a file is trustworthy. It establishes only that the bytes match the digest you were given.

What a checksum proves

A hash is a fixed-length fingerprint of a file’s bytes. Change one byte and the digest changes completely, which is why publishers print checksums next to large downloads: a truncated download or a corrupted transfer can be spotted in a second.

It does not establish authorship or safety. If the site serving the file is compromised, the checksum served beside it is compromised too. The check answers “is this the same bytes the publisher described?”, not “should I trust the publisher?”.

Which algorithm to compare

Prefer the strongest digest the publisher offers. SHA-256 and SHA-512 are the sensible choices today. MD5 and SHA-1 are computed because download pages still print them, but both have known collision attacks and should not be treated as proof against a deliberate forgery.

Pasted values are normalised before comparison: uppercase, lowercase, colon-separated byte pairs, hyphen groups and a trailing filename all reduce to the same hex string. A single missing character still fails, because the comparison is exact.

Frequently asked questions

Does File Hash Calculator upload my files to any server?

No. File Hash Calculator runs in your browser, and the file is read there rather than sent to a server for processing. Our host still sees ordinary page-request metadata, which is described on the privacy page.

Is File Hash Calculator free to use?

Yes, File Hash Calculator is free, with no paid tier, no account, and no watermark added to your output. The limits are technical rather than commercial: file size, page count and supported formats are listed on this page.

What file formats and sizes are supported?

File Hash Calculator supports standard files files up to 50MB directly in your browser.

How do I verify a download against a published checksum?

Paste the checksum from the download page into the comparison box. Colons, hyphens, spaces and letter case are ignored, so the SHA-256 printed as uppercase hex or as colon-separated bytes compares correctly. The tool reports a match or a mismatch against the exact digest it computed.

Is MD5 safe for verifying a download?

MD5 and SHA-1 are still common on download pages but are no longer collision-resistant. They are useful for spotting a truncated or corrupted download, not for proving that a file is genuine. Where the publisher offers SHA-256 or SHA-512, compare against that instead.

Does this prove the file is safe to open?

No. A matching hash proves only that the bytes are identical to the file the publisher described. If the publisher itself distributed a malicious file, its hash matches too.