diff --git a/Cargo.toml b/Cargo.toml
index e6c1b1c..a8eb12e 100644
--- a/Cargo.toml
+++ b/Cargo.toml
@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ path = "tests/keys/main.rs"
 [dependencies]
 aes = "0.8"
 aes-gcm = "^0.10.0-pre"
+base64 = "^0.13"
 bcrypt-pbkdf = "0.9"
 bytes = "1.1"
 cbc = "0.1"
diff --git a/examples/client.rs b/examples/client.rs
index 7e589b5..17c1164 100644
--- a/examples/client.rs
+++ b/examples/client.rs
@@ -179,7 +179,8 @@ async fn verify_pubkey(
     accept_tx: makiko::AcceptPubkeySender,
 ) -> Result<()> {
     log::info!("verifying server pubkey: {}", pubkey);
-    let prompt = format!("ssh: server pubkey: {}\nssh: do you want to connect?", pubkey);
+    let prompt = format!("ssh: server pubkey fingerprint {}\nssh: do you want to connect?",
+        pubkey.fingerprint());
     if ask_yes_no(&prompt).await? {
         accept_tx.accept();
     } else {
diff --git a/src/lib.rs b/src/lib.rs
index 567c97f..1022907 100644
--- a/src/lib.rs
+++ b/src/lib.rs
@@ -29,12 +29,12 @@ pub use self::mac::MacAlgo;
 pub use self::pubkey::{PubkeyAlgo, Pubkey, Privkey};
 
 pub use bytes;
+pub use ecdsa;
+pub use ecdsa::elliptic_curve;
 pub use ed25519_dalek;
-pub use rsa;
 pub use p256;
 pub use p384;
-pub use ecdsa;
-pub use ecdsa::elliptic_curve;
+pub use rsa;
 
 pub mod cipher;
 mod client;
diff --git a/src/pubkey/mod.rs b/src/pubkey/mod.rs
index cb32bbd..8bfafbc 100644
--- a/src/pubkey/mod.rs
+++ b/src/pubkey/mod.rs
@@ -91,13 +91,36 @@ impl Pubkey {
         }
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn decode(blob: Bytes) -> Result<Self> {
+    /// Decode a public key from SSH wire encoding.
+    ///
+    /// This is the encoding initially defined by RFC 4253. For keys other than RSA, the encoding
+    /// is defined in the RFC that introduces the key type.
+    pub fn decode(blob: Bytes) -> Result<Self> {
         decode_pubkey(blob)
     }
 
-    pub(crate) fn encode(&self) -> Bytes {
+    /// Encode a public key into SSH encoding.
+    ///
+    /// This is the encoding initially defined by RFC 4253. For keys other than RSA, the encoding
+    /// is defined in the RFC that introduces the key type.
+    ///
+    /// You can use this method to calculate a digest of the public key.
+    pub fn encode(&self) -> Bytes {
         encode_pubkey(self)
     }
+
+    /// Compute a fingerprint of the public key.
+    ///
+    /// The fingerprint is in the SHA-256 digest of the public key encoded with base64 (not padded
+    /// with `=` characters) and prefixed with `SHA256:` (e.g.
+    /// `"SHA256:eaBPG/rqx+IPa0Lc9KHypkG3UxjmUwerwq9CZ/xpPWM"`). If you need another format, use
+    /// [`encode()`][Self::encode()] to encode the key into bytes and apply a digest of your
+    /// choice.
+    pub fn fingerprint(&self) -> String {
+        use sha2::Digest;
+        let digest = sha2::Sha256::digest(self.encode());
+        format!("SHA256:{}", base64::encode_config(digest, base64::STANDARD_NO_PAD))
+    }
 }
 
 impl fmt::Display for Pubkey {
diff --git a/tests/keys/main.rs b/tests/keys/main.rs
index 244cb61..12b9ad6 100644
--- a/tests/keys/main.rs
+++ b/tests/keys/main.rs
@@ -74,7 +74,7 @@ fn check_decode_privkey(expected_privkey: makiko::Privkey, pem_data: &str, passw
 }
 
 #[test] 
-#[should_panic] // this is not implemented
+#[should_panic] // this functionality is not implemented
 fn test_decode_encrypted_rsa_aes128_gcm() {
     // the `cryptography` library in Python does not support keys encrypted using aes128-gcm, so
     // the keys.rs file does not contain `encrypted_rsa_aes128_gcm()`
@@ -85,3 +85,26 @@ fn test_decode_encrypted_rsa_aes128_gcm() {
     assert_eq!(decoded.pubkey, decoded.privkey.pubkey());
 }
 
+fn check_fingerprint(privkey: makiko::Privkey, expected: &str) {
+    let fingerprint = privkey.pubkey().fingerprint();
+    assert_eq!(fingerprint, expected);
+}
+
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_alice_ed25519() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::alice_ed25519(), "SHA256:sBkOpFO1h8D6+8mvKFvAgaHSFLjrG3LMeXDhST/qXwY");
+}
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_ruth_rsa_1024() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::ruth_rsa_1024(), "SHA256:JKKfprhKd9n4BaqMcwQmdrtaMxxvaYAi3LEwfsl/j10");
+}
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_ruth_rsa_2048() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::ruth_rsa_2048(), "SHA256:f7yXzeoej4cteCs7EipdN2+GPWRLgtleYTpDDQzNybk");
+}
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_ruth_rsa_4096() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::ruth_rsa_4096(), "SHA256:eaBPG/rqx+IPa0Lc9KHypkG3UxjmUwerwq9CZ/xpPWM");
+}
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_eda_ecdsa_p256() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::eda_ecdsa_p256(), "SHA256:c8EWc8omrSNzIK2ipOLWju6F9Do4ypK+mf3RRbgOCXw");
+}
+#[test] fn test_fingerprint_eda_ecdsa_p384() {
+    check_fingerprint(keys::eda_ecdsa_p384(), "SHA256:8vBuizZHVX0885H8gCJQTzpf73/S9y3vT3VAHtuBikY");
+}