diff --git a/src/WAConnection/Constants.ts b/src/WAConnection/Constants.ts
index c151436..fd8d467 100644
--- a/src/WAConnection/Constants.ts
+++ b/src/WAConnection/Constants.ts
@@ -7,7 +7,6 @@ export const DEFAULT_ORIGIN = 'https://web.whatsapp.com'
 
 export const KEEP_ALIVE_INTERVAL_MS = 20*1000
 
-
 // export the WAMessage Prototypes
 export { proto as WAMessageProto }
 export type WANode = WA.Node
@@ -17,10 +16,10 @@ export type WAContactMessage = proto.ContactMessage
 export type WAMessageKey = proto.IMessageKey
 export type WATextMessage = proto.ExtendedTextMessage
 export type WAContextInfo = proto.IContextInfo
+export type WAGenericMediaMessage = proto.IVideoMessage | proto.IImageMessage | proto.IAudioMessage | proto.IDocumentMessage | proto.IStickerMessage
 export import WA_MESSAGE_STUB_TYPE = proto.WebMessageInfo.WEB_MESSAGE_INFO_STUBTYPE
 export import WA_MESSAGE_STATUS_TYPE = proto.WebMessageInfo.WEB_MESSAGE_INFO_STATUS
 
-
 export interface WALocationMessage {
     degreesLatitude: number
     degreesLongitude: number
diff --git a/src/WAConnection/Utils.ts b/src/WAConnection/Utils.ts
index 50e9971..3219ea6 100644
--- a/src/WAConnection/Utils.ts
+++ b/src/WAConnection/Utils.ts
@@ -9,7 +9,7 @@ import { URL } from 'url'
 import { Agent } from 'https'
 
 import Decoder from '../Binary/Decoder'
-import { MessageType, HKDFInfoKeys, MessageOptions, WAChat, WAMessageContent, BaileysError, WAMessageProto, TimedOutError, CancelledError, DEFAULT_ORIGIN } from './Constants'
+import { MessageType, HKDFInfoKeys, MessageOptions, WAChat, WAMessageContent, BaileysError, WAMessageProto, TimedOutError, CancelledError, WAGenericMediaMessage } from './Constants'
 
 const platformMap = {
     'aix': 'AIX',
@@ -223,6 +223,11 @@ export const generateProfilePicture = async (buffer: Buffer) => {
     }
 }
 export const ProxyAgent = (host: string | URL) => HttpsProxyAgent(host) as any as Agent
+/** gets the SHA256 of the given media message */
+export const mediaMessageSHA256B64 = (message: WAMessageContent) => {
+    const media = Object.values(message)[0] as WAGenericMediaMessage
+    return media?.fileSha256 && Buffer.from(media.fileSha256).toString ('base64')
+}
 
 /** generates a thumbnail for a given media, if required */
 export async function generateThumbnail(buffer: Buffer, mediaType: MessageType, info: MessageOptions) {
@@ -268,7 +273,7 @@ export async function decodeMediaMessageBuffer(message: WAMessageContent, fetchR
     if (type === MessageType.location || type === MessageType.liveLocation) {
         return new Buffer(message[type].jpegThumbnail)
     }
-    let messageContent: WAMessageProto.IVideoMessage | WAMessageProto.IImageMessage | WAMessageProto.IAudioMessage | WAMessageProto.IDocumentMessage
+    let messageContent: WAGenericMediaMessage
     if (message.productMessage) {
         const product = message.productMessage.product?.productImage
         if (!product) throw new BaileysError ('product has no image', message)