How to Hide a File in an Image File

Conceal files within in image using this user-friendly guide


This wikiHow teaches you how to hide one or more files inside of an image file on a computer. You can do this on both Windows and Mac computers.

Method 1
Method 1 of 2:

On Windows

  1. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 1
    1
    Copy the file(s) and the image to your desktop. Select the files you want to hide, press Ctrl+C, go to your desktop, and press Ctrl+V, then do the same with the image you want to use.
  2. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 2
    2
    Select the file(s) you want to hide. Click and drag your mouse cursor across the list of files you want to hide.
    • If you're just hiding one file, click once the file to select it.
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  3. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 3
    3
    Right-click a selected file. Doing so will prompt a drop-down menu.
    • If your mouse doesn't have a right-click button, click the right side of the mouse, or use two fingers to click the mouse.
    • If your computer uses a trackpad instead of a mouse, use two fingers to tap the trackpad or press the bottom-right side of the trackpad.
  4. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 4
    4
    Select Send to. It's near the middle of the drop-down menu. A pop-out menu will appear.
  5. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 5
    5
    Click Compressed (zipped) folder. This option is near the top of the pop-out menu. Doing this creates a new ZIP folder with your files inside.
  6. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 6
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    Enter a name for the ZIP folder. After the ZIP folder appears, type in whatever you want to name the ZIP folder and press ↵ Enter.
    • It's best if you choose a one-word name for the ZIP folder.
  7. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 7
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    Right-click the image. A drop-down menu will appear.
  8. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 8
    8
    Click Properties. It's at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
  9. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 9
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    Check the image's extension. In the parentheses next to the "Type of file" heading, you'll see the type of file your image is (this will usually be either ".jpg" or ".png").
  10. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 10
    10
    Copy the image's location. Click and drag your mouse cursor across the address to the right of the "Location" heading, then press Ctrl+C. This will ensure that you enter the path to your files correctly.
    • You can close the Properties window after doing this.
  11. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 11
    11
    Open Command Prompt. Open Start
    Windows Start
    , type in command prompt, and click
    Windows cmd
    Command Prompt at the top of the Start menu.
  12. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 12
    12
    Change the directory to your desktop. Type in cd and press the spacebar, then press Ctrl+V to paste in the copied address and press ↵ Enter. This will change Command Prompt's focus to use the desktop.
  13. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 13
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    Type in the "Copy" command. The command to place the file(s) in your image is as follows: copy /b image.extension+folder.zip image.extension where "image.extension" is replaced by the image's name and its extension (e.g., "hello.jpg") and "folder.zip" is replaced by the ZIP folder's name and extension (e.g., "hi.zip").
    • For example, if your ZIP folder is named "Secret" and your image is a JPG named "Hide", you would type in copy /b Hide.jpg+Secret.zip Hide.jpg here.
  14. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 14
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    Press ↵ Enter. Doing so runs the command and places the ZIP folder inside of the image.
  15. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 15
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    View your hidden files. Once your image contains the ZIP folder, you can double-click the image file to open the image as-is; however, if you want to view the image's hidden files, do the following:
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Method 2
Method 2 of 2:

On Mac

  1. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 16
    1
    Copy the the file(s) and the image to your desktop. Select the files you want to hide, press ⌘ Command+C, go to your desktop, and press ⌘ Command+V, then do the same with the image you want to use.
  2. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 17
    2
    Select the file(s) you want to hide. Click and drag your mouse cursor across the list of files you want to hide.
    • If you're just hiding one file, click once the file to select it.
  3. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 18
    3
    Control-click one of the selected files. Doing so will prompt a drop-down menu to appear.
    • You can also use two fingers to press the mouse button.
  4. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 19
    4
    Click Compress Items. It's in the drop-down menu; you should see the number of items you've selected there as well (e.g., Compress 4 Items). Doing so creates a ZIP folder named "Archive".[1]
    • If you're only compressing on file, you'll click Compress [file name] here.
  5. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 20
    5
    Check your image's extension. Before you can hide your ZIP folder in the image, you'll need to know your image's extension:
    • Click once the image to select it.
    • Click File.
    • Click Get Info.
    • Look at the tag after the period in the file's name at the top of the Get Info window.
  6. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 21
    6
    Open Terminal. Click Spotlight
    Mac Spotlight
    , type in terminal, and double-click the
    Mac Terminal
    Terminal app icon.
  7. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 22
    7
    Change to the desktop directory. Type in cd Desktop and press ⏎ Return to do so.
  8. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 23
    8
    Enter the "Hide" command. The command for hiding a ZIP folder inside of an image is as follows: cat image.extension Archive.zip > image2.extension where "image.extension" is your image's name and extension (e.g., "Hide.jpg"), "Archive.zip" is your ZIP folder's name and extension (in most cases, it literally will be "Archive.zip), and "image2.extension" is whatever you want your output image's name and extension to be.
    • For example, if your image file is a JPG named "Secret" and your ZIP folder is named "Archive.zip", you would create a hidden file image named "Normal" by typing cat Secret.jpg Archive.zip > Normal.jpg here.
  9. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 24
    9
    Press ⏎ Return. Doing so runs the command and places the ZIP folder inside of the output image.
  10. Image titled Hide a File in an Image File Step 25
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    View the hidden files. While double-clicking the output image will open the image like usual, you can view the image's hidden files by doing the following:[2]
    • Place the image on your desktop if it isn't already there.
    • Open Terminal and type in cd Desktop.
    • Type in unzip image.extension where "image.extension" is your output image's name and extension.
    • Press ⏎ Return.
    • Follow any in-Terminal prompts.
    • Open the folder that appears on your Mac's Desktop to view the files.
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Community Q&A

  • Question
    How do you detect a file hidden in an image?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Typically there is no easy way, but if the file that is hidden is particularly large (over a few MB), the file size gives it away.
  • Question
    Can my game still work if files are hidden in there?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    Yes, it should work.
  • Question
    What should I do if my antivirus flagged the newly created file as malware?
    Community Answer
    Community Answer
    This probably happened since many viruses hide in image files, so they don't seem dangerous when you download them. You can temporarily disable your antivirus while working with your file.
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Warnings

  • If you don't have administrator rights on your computer, you may not be able to hide files inside of an image.
    ⧼thumbs_response⧽
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References

  1. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0wkG6zOpjA
  2. ↑ https://www.hongkiat.com/blog/hide-zip-image-mac/

About This Article

Jack Lloyd
Written by:
Jack Lloyd
wikiHow Technology Writer
This article was co-authored by wikiHow staff writer, Jack Lloyd. Jack Lloyd is a Technology Writer and Editor for wikiHow. He has over two years of experience writing and editing technology-related articles. He is technology enthusiast and an English teacher. This article has been viewed 176,227 times.
How helpful is this?
Co-authors: 6
Updated: August 19, 2022
Views: 176,227
Categories: Command Prompt
Article SummaryX

1. Copy the files and the image to your desktop.
2. Right-click the file you want to hide.
3. Select Send to > Compressed (zipped) folder.
4. Enter a name for the zipped folder and press Enter.
5. Open the command prompt.
6. Change the directory to your desktop.
7. Type "copy /b IMAGEFILE.jpg+ZIPFILE.zip IMAGEFILE.jpg".
8. Press Enter.

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