Software⏱️ 3 min read📅 2026-06-15

How to Fix: How to fix awscli s3 error "The Content-MD5 you specified did not match what we received" (BadDigest)?

AWS CLI S3 error: The Content-MD5 you specified did not match what we received.

Quick Answer: Use the --content-md5 option with the correct MD5 hash value for your file.

📋 Table of Contents

  1. ⚠️ Common Causes
  2. ✅ Best Solutions to Fix It
  3. 💡 Conclusion

Uploading files larger than 10 GB to S3 can be problematic due to AWS's content integrity checks, which are designed to prevent data corruption during upload. The 'Content-MD5 you specified did not match what we received' error occurs when the MD5 hash of the file does not match the expected hash, indicating that the file has been corrupted or tampered with during transmission.

This error can be frustrating for users who need to transfer large files regularly. Fortunately, there are workarounds and best practices that can help mitigate this issue.

⚠️ Common Causes

  • The primary cause of this error is due to the size limit of the upload buffer in AWS CLI. When uploading a file larger than 10 GB, the upload process is split into multiple parts, each with its own MD5 hash. However, if the file is corrupted or incomplete during transmission, the MD5 hashes may not match, resulting in the 'BadDigest' error.
  • Another possible cause is that the local file system or network connection might be causing issues, leading to corrupted data being transmitted to S3.

✅ Best Solutions to Fix It

Using the --upload-threshold option

  1. Step 1: To fix this issue, you can use the `--upload-threshold` option with AWS CLI. This option allows you to specify a larger upload threshold, which can help prevent the error from occurring.
  2. Step 2: For example, you can use the following command: `aws s3 cp --upload-threshold 100m 'foo.log.gz' s3://mybucket/2018/12/foo.log.gz`
  3. Step 3: By setting the upload threshold to a larger value, such as 100 MB, you can reduce the likelihood of corrupted data being transmitted during the upload process.

Using a different storage class or bucket

  1. Step 1: Another workaround is to use a different storage class, such as Standard or Infrequent Access, which may have more lenient content integrity checks.
  2. Step 2: Alternatively, you can upload the file to a different bucket that has a larger upload limit or a different configuration for content integrity checks.

💡 Conclusion

In summary, the 'Content-MD5 you specified did not match what we received' error occurs due to issues with large file uploads in AWS S3. By using the `--upload-threshold` option or exploring alternative storage classes and bucket configurations, users can mitigate this issue and ensure successful file transfers.

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