SHA-256 vs MD5 for File Integrity: When Each Is Acceptable
Quick answer: Use SHA-256 by default. Keep MD5 only for legacy compatibility when the threat model is accidental corruption, not active tampering.
Why SHA-256 wins in 2026
SHA-256 provides strong collision resistance and broad tool support, making it the standard for software downloads and CI artifacts.
When MD5 may still appear
- Legacy pipelines
- Old vendor feeds
- Non-adversarial corruption checks
Migration plan
- Publish SHA-256 beside MD5.
- Update scripts to prefer SHA-256.
- Deprecate MD5 in policy docs.
Continue with Checksum Mismatch? 9 Real Causes and How to Fix Them (2026) and validate output in Hash Generator.