Get the Latest
Subscribe to our RSS feed or enter your email address below to get the feed delivered to you by email:
New! Follow Gizmo on Twitter
Security Wizard
Hot! Get our free security suggestions customized to your needs. Get started
Navigation
User login
| New: | Help keep this site independent with few ads by buying a Gizmo Cap or T-shirt or by Donating |
| Hot: | Get free personalized security suggestions from Gizmo's Security Wizard |
| Help: | Know your freeware? Then suggest a hot product or become a reviewer or moderator for Gizmos |
PicCrypt - Compress Files to Images and Back
PicCrypt is a fairly new free application which lets you compress any file into a 24-bit bitmap image. It compresses the files using zLib File Compression. For added privacy, it also lets you encrypt your files with a key which is then required to decompress your image. This is a very useful application as it lets you send over image files to your friends who can then decompress them back into the original file. It also lets you choose the output width making it more convenient to use the images on image hosts, forums, etc. It is fairly rapid and converts files of any size. It is also portable.
Check it out :
Moderators comments:
I tested the PicCrypt utility described in this user-submitted article and it is clean and works pretty much as described.
When I visited the website I got the impression from the video tutorial that this product can embed a file in an image. It doesn't. What it does do is convert any file to an image. The image created is not a normal image but a random looking bar like this:
I realized the confusion was created by the fact that the tutorial shows a PNG image file of a flower being converted by PicCrypt. This may have been a well intentioned attempt to illustrate how PicCrypt can compress image files however in the end it was simply confusing. Well to me anyway.
If you actually want to hide a file by embedding it in a real image you can do so with with the freeware program Camouflage that can be downloaded from http://camouflage.unfiction.com/
Camouflage is now a rather old program, indeed the website describes it as suitable for Windows 95, 98, Me, NT and 2000. However I tried it on Windows XP and it worked perfectly. If someone finds it works with Vista could you please leave a comment below.
Camouflage is exceptionally easy to use. Just right click on any file to embed it in image of your choice and similarly for decryption.
Be aware though that Camouflage does not provide military strength encryption. So if you planning to steal state secrets there are better choices ;)
Gizmo
- Article type:
Comments
I tried Camouflage in Windows 7RC and it works fine.
First of all, thank you for pointing out the missing .ocx, I will make sure to add that to the downloadable files to prevent anyone else from getting errors. And thank you for pointing out a possible confusion from the tutorial, I will remake one soon to replace the old one (since it is also an older version displayed in the video).
And to answer your questions:
#2. Any file means any extension you want. You can literally grab any file off your desktop and plug it into PicCrypt.
#3. What was the file you were using? If you provide more information, I could help you figure it out and potentially fix a bug.
#4. That is actually a very good question. To see whether the AV sees through it, I decided to test it using EICAR, which is a test file made to test whether anti-viruses are secure or not. I scanned the original .com file and it was reported as a virus for both Avast and Ad-Aware. I then converted it without an encryption key and neither detected it. However, this could be due to the compression library which I use in PicCrypt. However, the second I converted it back to the .com file, Avast flagged it down as a virus. Thus I beleive that although someone could technically hide a virus within a file, once you convert it back it will be pointed out as an infected file. And you must remember that while it is a bitmap image, it is harmless.
Does "any file" mean doc, xls, pdf?
When I tried to reopen the file I get a runtime error message that says "invalid filename"
I got this same error until I put the proper password into the BOTTOM entry box PRIOR to choosing the filename to be reopen the file.
Separate note - I think there is a (unpleasant) bug. When I Convert Back, after selecting the compressed bmp I want to convert back, it offers Choose Where To Save The File. In here it fills in the filename near the bottom with the original filename. All good. But when I change that offered filename to something new it ignores that change and saves it under the original filename anyway. This is bad, because it potentially easily overwites my original original file if I happen to be working in the original directory.
K2
Though I can see legitimate uses for these programs, what's to stop malicious people from passing on a virus or trojan with them? Would your AV see through the the compression or you have to decompress first?
Post new comment