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Many years ago I was asked how to convert a .gif file to a .wav file. I remember taking the time to patiently explain that it just doesn't work that way. Look

Many years ago I was asked how to convert a .gif file to a .wav file. I remember taking the time to patiently explain that it just doesn't work that way. Looks like I owe someone an apology.

nickpsecurity 11y ago
rename .gif .wav One of my actual obfuscations a long time ago against casual users. Except it worked the other way around to hide midi's and mp3's as broken executables, etc. :)
- Negative1 11y ago
  Nope; your header won't match which is an easy thing to detect and red flag. In regards to the original challenge, you could convert a gif to wav a number of ways, the simplest being just copying image data as raw PCM. Of course you can make it even more interesting. Imagine turn each color channel into notes (dark red = C, blue = D, etc...). Better yet, what if remapped each byte value of a color into a table of chord progressions. What if you only allowed harmonized chord progressions and made it in a 4/4 rhythm. You just turned a gif into a song. If you wanted to go even more ambitious, use something like OpenCV to identify shapes, objects, people/animals. Take what you find and create a sound mixer that generates a cacophony of sounds. Use your imagination; code can be beautiful.
  - nickpsecurity 11y ago
    "casual users" It won't matter given my use case of non-technical people snooping on computers or half-assed educators finding what I stashed on barely maintained PC's. I'm not speculating: they were fooled to the point they gave up trying far as I know. "Of course you can make it even more interesting." This is true. Your ideas are interesting. My brief foray into this sort of thing brought in a problem: compression passes applied at different points in apps and services. Your file might get modified at some point by a cheap storage service. Also, the readers are lossy by design. So, these two things must be considered in any of these stego designs using multimedia formats disguised as actual multimedia. Plenty of methods still left.
minimaxir 11y ago
For a Portal 2 ARG, Valve hid images in .wav files that could only be found using SSTV software. More info: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Portal_ARG http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Portal_ARG
iak8god 11y ago
> Many years ago I was asked how to convert a .gif file to a .wav file That's Glitch Art 101: https://www.reddit.com/r/glitch_art/ https://www.reddit.com/r/glitch_art/
bartzon 11y ago
Or the other way around, sort of: http://www.bastwood.com/?page_id=10 http://www.bastwood.com/?page_id=10

Many years ago I was asked how to convert a .gif file to a .wav file. I remember taking the time to patiently explain that it just doesn't work that way. Looks like I owe someone an apology.

nickpsecurity 11y ago

rename .gif .wav One of my actual obfuscations a long time ago against casual users. Except it worked the other way around to hide midi's and mp3's as broken executables, etc. :)

Negative1 11y ago
Nope; your header won't match which is an easy thing to detect and red flag. In regards to the original challenge, you could convert a gif to wav a number of ways, the simplest being just copying image data as raw PCM. Of course you can make it even more interesting. Imagine turn each color channel into notes (dark red = C, blue = D, etc...). Better yet, what if remapped each byte value of a color into a table of chord progressions. What if you only allowed harmonized chord progressions and made it in a 4/4 rhythm. You just turned a gif into a song. If you wanted to go even more ambitious, use something like OpenCV to identify shapes, objects, people/animals. Take what you find and create a sound mixer that generates a cacophony of sounds. Use your imagination; code can be beautiful.
- nickpsecurity 11y ago
  "casual users" It won't matter given my use case of non-technical people snooping on computers or half-assed educators finding what I stashed on barely maintained PC's. I'm not speculating: they were fooled to the point they gave up trying far as I know. "Of course you can make it even more interesting." This is true. Your ideas are interesting. My brief foray into this sort of thing brought in a problem: compression passes applied at different points in apps and services. Your file might get modified at some point by a cheap storage service. Also, the readers are lossy by design. So, these two things must be considered in any of these stego designs using multimedia formats disguised as actual multimedia. Plenty of methods still left.

minimaxir 11y ago

For a Portal 2 ARG, Valve hid images in .wav files that could only be found using SSTV software. More info: http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Portal_ARG http://half-life.wikia.com/wiki/Portal_ARG

iak8god 11y ago

> Many years ago I was asked how to convert a .gif file to a .wav file That's Glitch Art 101: https://www.reddit.com/r/glitch_art/ https://www.reddit.com/r/glitch_art/

bartzon 11y ago

Or the other way around, sort of: http://www.bastwood.com/?page_id=10 http://www.bastwood.com/?page_id=10