diff --git a/tuf/data/snapshot.go b/tuf/data/snapshot.go
index 29b14e62d4..937f7af355 100644
--- a/tuf/data/snapshot.go
+++ b/tuf/data/snapshot.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package data
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"crypto/sha256"
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
@@ -39,10 +38,18 @@ func isValidSnapshotStructure(s Snapshot) error {
 		// Meta is a map of FileMeta, so if the role isn't in the map it returns
 		// an empty FileMeta, which has an empty map, and you can check on keys
 		// from an empty map.
-		if checksum, ok := s.Meta[role].Hashes["sha256"]; !ok || len(checksum) != sha256.Size {
+		//
+		// For now sha256 is required and sha512 is not.
+		if _, ok := s.Meta[role].Hashes["sha256"]; !ok {
 			return ErrInvalidMetadata{
 				role: CanonicalSnapshotRole,
-				msg:  fmt.Sprintf("missing or invalid %s sha256 checksum information", role),
+				msg:  fmt.Sprintf("missing %s sha256 checksum information", role),
+			}
+		}
+		if err := CheckValidHashStructures(s.Meta[role].Hashes); err != nil {
+			return ErrInvalidMetadata{
+				role: CanonicalSnapshotRole,
+				msg:  fmt.Sprintf("invalid %s checksum information, %v", role, err),
 			}
 		}
 	}
diff --git a/tuf/data/timestamp.go b/tuf/data/timestamp.go
index ed5e9bb7b0..2914bc59a8 100644
--- a/tuf/data/timestamp.go
+++ b/tuf/data/timestamp.go
@@ -2,7 +2,6 @@ package data
 
 import (
 	"bytes"
-	"crypto/sha256"
 	"fmt"
 	"time"
 
@@ -37,10 +36,17 @@ func isValidTimestampStructure(t Timestamp) error {
 	// Meta is a map of FileMeta, so if the role isn't in the map it returns
 	// an empty FileMeta, which has an empty map, and you can check on keys
 	// from an empty map.
-	if cs, ok := t.Meta[CanonicalSnapshotRole].Hashes["sha256"]; !ok || len(cs) != sha256.Size {
+	//
+	// For now sha256 is required and sha512 is not.
+	if _, ok := t.Meta[CanonicalSnapshotRole].Hashes["sha256"]; !ok {
 		return ErrInvalidMetadata{
-			role: CanonicalTimestampRole, msg: "missing or invalid snapshot sha256 checksum information"}
+			role: CanonicalTimestampRole, msg: "missing snapshot sha256 checksum information"}
 	}
+	if err := CheckValidHashStructures(t.Meta[CanonicalSnapshotRole].Hashes); err != nil {
+		return ErrInvalidMetadata{
+			role: CanonicalTimestampRole, msg: fmt.Sprintf("invalid snapshot checksum information, %v", err)}
+	}
+
 	return nil
 }
 
diff --git a/tuf/testutils/swizzler.go b/tuf/testutils/swizzler.go
index 6aa59446c8..089521cff3 100644
--- a/tuf/testutils/swizzler.go
+++ b/tuf/testutils/swizzler.go
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ func (m *MetadataSwizzler) UpdateSnapshotHashes(roles ...string) error {
 				return err
 			}
 
-			meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(metaBytes), "sha256")
+			meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(metaBytes), data.NotaryDefaultHashes...)
 			if err != nil {
 				return err
 			}
@@ -575,7 +575,7 @@ func (m *MetadataSwizzler) UpdateTimestampHash() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
-	snapshotMeta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(metaBytes), "sha256")
+	snapshotMeta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(metaBytes), data.NotaryDefaultHashes...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
diff --git a/tuf/tuf.go b/tuf/tuf.go
index 0a1912a5f5..6d1a46aa08 100644
--- a/tuf/tuf.go
+++ b/tuf/tuf.go
@@ -760,7 +760,7 @@ func (tr *Repo) UpdateSnapshot(role string, s *data.Signed) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(jsonData), "sha256")
+	meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(jsonData), data.NotaryDefaultHashes...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
@@ -775,7 +775,7 @@ func (tr *Repo) UpdateTimestamp(s *data.Signed) error {
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}
-	meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(jsonData), "sha256")
+	meta, err := data.NewFileMeta(bytes.NewReader(jsonData), data.NotaryDefaultHashes...)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
 	}