Comments on: How to hide files in JPEG pictures

By: Dani

Dani — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 03:52:24 +0000

Thanks for sharing, It is a neat trick.

For all those asking about more security, either don’t have the sensitive material on that comp or else burn or transfer to flash drive and hide behind the pic of your grandmother.

By: Hellebender

Hellebender — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:23:51 +0000

So…this is a great technique if you would like to hide small files..however larger files..not such a good idea. It becomes quite obvious when you have a 12MB jpeg file. There is something simple you can do using winrar to hide larger files. pack your file into a .rar file..make sure to use the encryption and compression features. Once the .rar file is created…simple change the extension to an extension of your choice…such as .dll.

Rename the dll file to a not so obvious name, but something easy to remember. Then simply bury the file in a folder of your choice that contains multiple dll files.. or files of they type of extension you named. So not only would the person have to know the file name…and that the dll file is really not a dll file..but they would also have to know what to change the extension back to…AND then they would also need to know the password to unpack it. Have fun!

By: goldenchild

goldenchild — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 19:14:18 +0000

hey this is an awesome way to hide files. One problem, how do i extract the files from the image to be able to use them again, i tried the command – from above to open them, but ‘unzip’ is not recognised by windows as a command.

Grateful for your help.

By: JasonD

JasonD — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 13:55:15 +0000

This will not work for “certain” images… There is a common chance that certain images contain what looks like PK or ZIP or RAR data. These specific images will give you the results you see with errors.

Unfortunately, it is a matter of trial and error. Don’t assume this will work with every 800 x 600 image, because it worked with another one. It depends on the contents of the image.

For those who know about reading headers, you can simply look for a binary match of any ZIP header in the file. Abort the use of that image if it does contain the same sequence of header info.

There is actually a program that is also an image, and even a long, “Primary number” that is also a program too. (Just requires notepad to make the program with that primary number.)

That is a good way to cause all sorts of trouble… just rename all your files to EXE and try to run them! LOL.

Try unzipping some of your images that don’t have zips added to them. Many will actually unzip, but contain garbled files and data. Don’t use those for zipping, or you will be in for a real unwanted surprise!

By: ariel

ariel — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 12:57:11 +0000

awesome tool. but how do i undo it to get back the original jpg file size? forgot to make a copy of the original jpg file.

By: Thiha Soe

Thiha Soe — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 03:31:37 +0000

Oh! Surprise…I had never thought to hide files like that. I really want to thank you!

By: 123

123 — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 00:35:45 +0000

Is there any other file type you can do this to other than jpegs?

By: prashant

prashant — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:44:07 +0000

hey its working fine but how do I get the EXE file back out of the JPEG and run it!?

By: TechTac the Fresh makem

TechTac the Fresh makem — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:16:28 +0000

WIN ZIPith and open?

sooo u used winzip.
your file looks a little diffrent once made than Hidden.rar
to be sure first check the image size.
then run the command as follows:

cd \
cd Test
copy /b DSC06578.JPG + Hidden.rar DSC06578.jpg

This is all still the same up until it is time to open it.
First make sure the file has gotten bigger.

Now open CMD back up as before and run these commands:

cd \
cd Test
unzip DSC06578.JPG

The files are now open.

By: Dzinepress

Dzinepress — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 11:57:19 +0000

awesome tips with amazing tools.

By: nale

nale — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:33:42 +0000

@Tux: So, it seems you are a power user then. My question is: Do you keep checking exe files (and other file types) to see if there is something hidden inside of it? Maybe not, I guess.

we are talking here about a simple way to do that, so for the power-users that want encryption and other “advanced” options, this is not he right place to comment.

Finally if you are going to add encription and password protection to the file, so there is no need to hide anything inside a JPG file at all, just zip the file and add the password…I think average users know that already.

So my conclusion is: This blog (or whatever) is about “How to hide files in JPEG pictures” nothing else…and I think the site has achieved what is expected for it.

By: Marvick

Marvick — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 09:52:28 +0000

Thanks a lot, real cool tips! It works for me, I use WinRAR.

By: Bruce Weaver

Bruce Weaver — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 01:58:26 +0000

Hello,
The command appeared to work but it came back with “Access Denied”. I think my Administrator Settings may be wrong but I’m not sure. I also don’t know how to change them. I’m using Vista. Can you help?

By: Tux

Tux — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 20:33:08 +0000

@Robert Sander: Yes, this is a very weak way to hide a file, from the point of view of a computer power-user. This method will work, however, against less experienced and knowledgeable users.

If you really want to hide something from someone using this method as part of your steps, you’re going to want to encrypt and password-protect the files as well. There were some suggestions in previous comments about using the features of WinRAR. I think that’s good advice to cover yourself fully.

By: nale

nale — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 14:10:22 +0000

Actually you can hide any type of file inside any other type of file, not just JPG.

I’ve just added a rar file to a small exe application…and the application works fine after the process! Also, changing extension from exe to rar will open the compressed file inside the exe!

bye