One option could be using a modified \arraystretch:

\documentclass{article}
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|p{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\bigskip
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0.8}% Tighter
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|p{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\bigskip
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}% Wider
\begin{tabular}{|p{5cm}|p{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}
Also see Column padding in tables for more options on horizontal and vertical padding.
For centered horizontal alignment of the columns, you could use the column specifier c (which will default to a natural-width column) or use >{\centering\arraybackslash}p{<len>}. For centered vertical alignment of the columns, you could use the column specifier m{<len>}. For both, use >{\centering\arraybackslash}m{<len>}. The last two settings require the array package:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{array}% http://ctan.org/pkg/array
\begin{document}
\begin{tabular}{|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{5cm}|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\bigskip
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{0.8}% Tighter
\begin{tabular}{|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{5cm}|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\bigskip
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.5}% Wider
\begin{tabular}{|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{5cm}|>{\centering\arraybackslash}m{2.5cm}|}
\hline
File & size \\ \hline
hello\_world & 1mb \\ \hline
helloworld2 kB & 64kb \\
\hline
\end{tabular}
\end{document}