Checksums · files
What does ‘compare the SHA-256’ actually mean?
It means compare two fingerprints. If the values match, the content you checked is the same content that produced the reference checksum.
In plain English
A SHA-256 value is a fixed-length fingerprint produced from some input. Change even a tiny part of that input and the fingerprint changes. That makes checksums useful for verifying that content has not changed unexpectedly.
- A hash is not encryption and cannot be reversed back into the original text.
- The same input should produce the same SHA-256 value every time.
- A mismatch means the two inputs are not identical.
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