diff --git a/src/config/config.js b/src/config/config.js
index 78bb1f96..131205d3 100644
--- a/src/config/config.js
+++ b/src/config/config.js
@@ -40,6 +40,7 @@ export default {
   aead_protect: false, // use Authenticated Encryption with Additional Data (AEAD) protection for symmetric encryption
   integrity_protect: true, // use integrity protection for symmetric encryption
   ignore_mdc_error: false, // fail on decrypt if message is not integrity protected
+  checksum_required: false, // do not throw error when armor is missing a checksum
   rsa_blinding: true,
   use_native: true, // use native node.js crypto and Web Crypto apis (if available)
   zero_copy: false, // use transferable objects between the Web Worker and main thread
diff --git a/src/encoding/armor.js b/src/encoding/armor.js
index 9dcbe891..70eb8545 100644
--- a/src/encoding/armor.js
+++ b/src/encoding/armor.js
@@ -247,6 +247,9 @@ function splitChecksum(text) {
   if (lastEquals >= 0) {
     body = text.slice(0, lastEquals);
     checksum = text.slice(lastEquals + 1);
+    if (checksum.substr(0, 6) === '\n-----') {
+      checksum = ''; // missing armor checksum
+    }
   }
 
   return { body: body, checksum: checksum };
@@ -311,10 +314,9 @@ function dearmor(text) {
 
   checksum = checksum.substr(0, 4);
 
-  if (!verifyCheckSum(result.data, checksum)) {
-    throw new Error("Ascii armor integrity check on message failed: '" +
-      checksum +
-      "' should be '" +
+  if (!verifyCheckSum(result.data, checksum) && (checksum || config.checksum_required)) {
+    // will NOT throw error if checksum is empty AND checksum is not required (GPG compatibility)
+    throw new Error("Ascii armor integrity check on message failed: '" + checksum + "' should be '" +
       getCheckSum(result.data) + "'");
   }