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A loophole has been discovered on YouTube that allows users to upload compressed data hidden in videos and access it as a backup solution, although it’s not as easy or advisable as it sounds.
To make it work, Infinite storage glitch (opens in new tab) (through PC gamer (opens in new tab)), a tool developed in Rust by Github user DvorakDwarf, must be run from a Linux distro and compiled from source or using a software development platform Dock worker (opens in new tab). There are no readily available releases on Github, and perhaps for good reason.
DvorakDwarf muses on the Github project page that while YouTube’s Terms of Service (TOS) may not expressly prohibit uploading videos containing files, it’s possible that Google lawyers planned ahead given a section on “bypassing the service” .
File storage in a YouTube video
As a result, while this is an interesting development, TechRadar Pro cannot expressly suggest that you should rush into trying it.
The creator of the tool, who is also careful with his words, has warned against making this your next one cloud storage solution, pointing out that it lacks file system support and has many bugs that they have no intention of fixing. These include poor RAM usage, limiting individual files to “about” 100MB.
Still, if you don’t particularly value your Google account, or are equally interested in new forms of data storage (such as in tape and HDD hybrids, or even DNA) like us, you might find this fascinating.
Users save files in a .zip archive and the tool integrates them into a video file: the new file is “several times larger”. The video can then be uploaded and downloaded, with the files “expelled” using the tool.
Users have a few options for storing their data: within RGB pixels (fast and efficient, but more prone to corruption and sensitive to compression) or black and white binary pixels.
Both modes are sensitive to compression, so various settings such as pixel size (with 2×2 pixels recommended for binary) are available to tweak and are stored in the first frame of a processed video to make it easier to remember options that work.