HashAlgorithm implementation

Question

I'm in need of a hash function for checking some file versioning (Basically, checking if client side file is the same as server side one).

My problem is that there is half a dozen implementations of HashAlgorithm, in the .net library, and I'm a bit lost.

• System.Security.Cryptography.KeyedHashAlgorithm
• System.Security.Cryptography.MD5
• System.Security.Cryptography.RIPEMD160
• System.Security.Cryptography.SHA1
• System.Security.Cryptography.SHA256
• System.Security.Cryptography.SHA384
• System.Security.Cryptography.SHA512

I'm looking for a fast algorithm, with relatively short output size. Security is not really a matter here.

Thanks!

Answer 1

Since it isn't a security issue, MD5 will probably serve your purposes. It is pretty standard for file content hashing.