MD5 Checksum: What do you need it for?

With many downloads you will find an MD5 checksum. In this practical tip, we'll tell you what you need it for.

MD5 Checksum - that's what you need

• MD5 is the abbreviation for "Message-Digest Algorithm 5". In German this means something like "message checking algorithm". The checksum consists of 32 hexadecimal numbers.
• The MD5 Checksum is a security feature. It forms a checksum for files that you want to download. You can then compare the chain of numbers with the checksum shown during the download. If the checksums are identical, the download is error-free and the file is unchanged.

Read another practical tip on how to hide files and folders under Windows.