# Python 3.16.0 alpha 1 is now available!

**URL:** <https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-16-0-alpha-1-is-now-available/109466>\
**Category:** Core Development\
**Tags:** release\
**Created:** [October 13, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-16-0-alpha-1-is-now-available/109466 "2026-10-13T19:51:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 2

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**Author:** ![steve.dower](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex002/user_avatar/discuss.python.org/steve.dower/32/56_2.png) [@steve.dower](https://discuss.python.org/u/steve.dower)\
**Post date:** [October 13, 2026, 8:33pm UTC](https://discuss.python.org/t/python-3-16-0-alpha-1-is-now-available/109466/2 "2026-10-13T20:33:11Z")

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One significant change in this release that’s probably going to upset some people is the complete lack of the legacy installers for Windows. Here’s my bullet point summary of how things are now:

- the Python install manager is the only _supported_ way to install Python on Windows - `py install 3.16`
- our default index file is signed and validated every time the install manager installs from it, and it contains hashes of the packages that are validated every time they’re extracted
- the “Windows release manifest” file listed on the download page is not required to install Python, but can be used to locate and verify hashes for the packages that are part of that release
- the packages linked by the release manifest can be extracted and run, nothing else needed (assuming you just want to run Python, and don’t want shortcuts/etc.)
- the release manifest on the download page has a .sigstore file for those who want to verify using that
- the format of the manifest is the same as our download index, so you can `py install --source <URL> 3.16` if you want, or just parse it directly
- most users will never need the Windows release manifest file, and listing the 10-ish files individually would just be even more confusing

So in short, most users shouldn’t get anything from the download page anymore, but if they really don’t want to use our tool, they can find downloadable files through the manifest.

I expect we’ll still be having to explain the change repeatedly, though. [PEP 773](https://peps.python.org/pep-0773/) is the background, and it has links to the discussions, so feel free to refer people to those rather than trying to repeatedly justify it.

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