SHA-256 hash of a file

Compute the SHA-256 fingerprint of any file.

A hash is a short string that changes completely if even one byte of the file changes. Publishers list them next to downloads so you can check that what arrived is what they sent, and that nothing was altered on the way.

The calculation uses the browser’s own cryptography, the same implementation that secures the connection you are reading this over.

Compare the result against the publisher’s string in full, ideally by pasting both somewhere that can tell you whether they match. Reading the middle of a sixty-four character hash by eye is how mistakes get through.