Desktop guide

How to verify a download's checksum

Make sure a file you downloaded is exactly the one the developer published — one command on Windows, Mac or Linux.

By the Fetchly team · Oct 23, 2026

Many projects publish a checksum (usually SHA-256) next to each release. If your file's checksum matches theirs, it wasn't corrupted or tampered with on the way. It takes one command.

Windows (PowerShell)

Get-FileHash .\App-Setup.exe -Algorithm SHA256

Mac / Linux (Terminal)

shasum -a 256 ~/Downloads/App.dmg

Compare the result

Compare the printed string with the one on the project's release page. Upper or lower case doesn't matter; every other character must match. If they differ, delete the file and download it again from the official release.