> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://hub.bsvblockchain.org/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://hub.bsvblockchain.org/wiki/addresses-and-wallets/bitcoin-address/wallet-import-format-wif.md).

# Wallet Import Format (WIF)

Wallet Import Format (WIF, also known as Wallet Export Format) is a way of encoding a private ECDSA key to make it easier to copy. A testing suite is available for encoding and decoding of WIF at: <http://gobittest.appspot.com/PrivateKey>

1. Private key to WIF 1 - Take a private key 0C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D 2 - Add a 0x80 byte in front of it for mainnet addresses or 0xef for testnet addresses. Also add a 0x01 byte at the end if the private key will correspond to a compressed public key 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D 3 - Perform SHA-256 hash on the extended key 8147786C4D15106333BF278D71DADAF1079EF2D2440A4DDE37D747DED5403592 4 - Perform SHA-256 hash on result of SHA-256 hash 507A5B8DFED0FC6FE8801743720CEDEC06AA5C6FCA72B07C49964492FB98A714 5 - Take the first 4 bytes of the second SHA-256 hash, this is the checksum 507A5B8D 6 - Add the 4 checksum bytes from point 5 at the end of the extended key from point 2 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D507A5B8D 7 - Convert the result from a byte string into a base58 string using Base58Check encoding. This is the Wallet Import Format 5HueCGU8rMjxEXxiPuD5BDku4MkFqeZyd4dZ1jvhTVqvbTLvyTJ
2. WIF to private key 1 - Take a Wallet Import Format string 5HueCGU8rMjxEXxiPuD5BDku4MkFqeZyd4dZ1jvhTVqvbTLvyTJ 2 - Convert it to a byte string using Base58Check encoding 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D507A5B8D 3 - Drop the last 4 checksum bytes from the byte string 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D 4 - Drop the first byte (it should be 0x80). If the private key corresponded to a compressed public key, also drop the last byte (it should be 0x01). If it corresponded to a compressed public key, the WIF string will have started with K or L instead of 5 (or c instead of 9 on testnet). This is the private key. 0C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D
3. WIF checksum checking 1 - Take the Wallet Import Format string 5HueCGU8rMjxEXxiPuD5BDku4MkFqeZyd4dZ1jvhTVqvbTLvyTJ 2 - Convert it to a byte string using Base58Check encoding 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D507A5B8D 3 - Drop the last 4 checksum bytes from the byte string 800C28FCA386C7A227600B2FE50B7CAE11EC86D3BF1FBE471BE89827E19D72AA1D 3 - Perform SHA-256 hash on the shortened string 8147786C4D15106333BF278D71DADAF1079EF2D2440A4DDE37D747DED5403592 4 - Perform SHA-256 hash on result of SHA-256 hash 507A5B8DFED0FC6FE8801743720CEDEC06AA5C6FCA72B07C49964492FB98A714 5 - Take the first 4 bytes of the second SHA-256 hash, this is the checksum 507A5B8D 6 - Make sure it is the same, as the last 4 bytes from point 2 507A5B8D 7 - If they are, and the byte string from point 2 starts with 0x80 (0xef for testnet addresses), then there is no error.


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