Ever wanted to see your data? Not just in boring old spreadsheets or text files—but as a vibrant, colorful image? With my latest side project, RGBA Data Encoder, you can now transform any file into a PNG by packing raw bytes into pixel channels!
How It Works
Each pixel in a PNG has four channels: Red, Green, Blue, and Alpha (RGBA). My encoder takes your file, converts it to hexadecimal, and then stores two hex characters per channel—meaning one pixel = four bytes of your original data.
The result? A lossless, perfectly reconstructable image version of your file. Dodgy compression, no tricks—just pure, unadulterated data turned into art.
Example Time!
- Doom (PDF) → 4.8MB (original 6.2MB) -1.4MB (smaller than original!)
- Bad Apple (MP4) → 37.8MB (original 21.7MB) +16.1MB (way bigger, but way cooler!)
"Doom, but make it abstract expressionism."
"The entire Bad Apple video… as a single, chaotic image."
Why Would You Do This?
- Steganography? Maybe.
- Archival storage? If you really like PNGs.
- Just for fun? Absolutely.
This isn’t about efficiency—it’s about seeing data in a new way. Want to hide a secret message in plain sight? Turn your resume into a modern art piece? Encode your favorite meme into another meme? The possibilities are endless (and slightly ridiculous).
⚡ Try It Yourself
The encoder & decoder are super simple—just a few lines of JavaScript. Want to play around with it? Star the repo and turn your files into pixel art today!
(And yes, it’s 100% reversible. Your data is safe… just very colorful.)
Top comments (1)
I can see this being used for CTF’s