diff --git a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/AuditableFile.java b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/AuditableFile.java
index 3fc95b98d..8142fe1ee 100644
--- a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/AuditableFile.java
+++ b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/AuditableFile.java
@@ -32,8 +32,8 @@ public void finalizeAndHash() {
     Logger.info("File %s written with hash %s".formatted(getAbsolutePath(), hash));
 
     // Write hash to hash file
-    File hashFile = new File(getAbsolutePath() + ".sha");
-    writeStringToFile(hashFile, hash);
+    File hashFile = new File(getAbsolutePath() + ".hash");
+    writeStringToFile(hashFile, "sha512: " + hash);
 
     // Make both file and its hash file read-only
     makeReadOnlyOrLogWarning(this);
diff --git a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/FileUtils.java b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/FileUtils.java
index dc9736dbe..0025974b1 100644
--- a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/FileUtils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/FileUtils.java
@@ -59,9 +59,9 @@ static void createOutputDirectory(String dir) throws UnableToCreateDirectoryExce
   static String getHash(File file) {
     MessageDigest digest;
     try {
-      digest = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-256");
+      digest = MessageDigest.getInstance("SHA-512");
     } catch (NoSuchAlgorithmException e) {
-      Logger.severe("Failed to get SHA-256 algorithm");
+      Logger.severe("Failed to get SHA-512 algorithm");
       return "[hash not available]";
     }
 
diff --git a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Logger.java b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Logger.java
index 24f9617c5..6ced4b01f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Logger.java
+++ b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Logger.java
@@ -95,8 +95,8 @@ static void setup() {
   // adds file logging for a tabulation run
   static void addTabulationFileLogging(String outputFolder, String timestampString)
       throws IOException {
-    // log file name is: outputFolder + timestamp + log index + hash + .log
-    // FileHandler requires % to be encoded as %%. %g is the log index.
+    // log file name is: outputFolder + timestamp + log index
+    // FileHandler requires % to be encoded as %%.  %g is the log index
     tabulationLogPattern =
         Paths.get(
                 outputFolder.replace("%", "%%"),
diff --git a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Utils.java b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Utils.java
index 31cc66c2a..e5db2f911 100644
--- a/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Utils.java
+++ b/src/main/java/network/brightspots/rcv/Utils.java
@@ -94,17 +94,6 @@ static String[] splitByNewline(String s) {
     return s.trim().split("\\s*\\r?\\n\\s*");
   }
 
-  static byte[] readFileToByteArray(File file) {
-    byte[] fileBytes = null;
-    try {
-      fileBytes = Files.readAllBytes(file.toPath());
-    } catch (IOException e) {
-      Logger.severe("Failed to read file: %s", file.getAbsolutePath());
-    }
-
-    return fileBytes;
-  }
-
   static String bytesToHex(byte[] hash) {
     StringBuilder hexString = new StringBuilder(2 * hash.length);
     for (byte b : hash) {