There exists many methods of securely transferring a file between two parties or even hiding a file on a local computer from would-be prying eyes. Plusses and minuses exist for each solution – but typically the minuses center around requiring specialized applications on both ends of the communication channel. If a type of encryption software I used to protect a document, logically the receiver needs a tool to decrypt. This is not a huge problem when the communication is frequent and the time invested for the initial setup is easily recouped as the usage continues. But what about any of the one-off situations?

Typically security through obscurity is not a proper means to protect anything – so with that being stated there can be many a situation where this approach is perfectly logical.

JPG+ FileBinder is a free portable Windows application that can merge files of any type into a typical JPEG picture file. At which point the file could be easily posted onto a photo-sharing service or even emailed to the recipient. The implementation is simple and painless: provide an initial JPG, provide the secret compressed .zip file, and click OK. The resulting file will be the same as your initial JPG file – viewable as you’d expect. It’s at this point that you should realize that padding a JPG file with a 50MB secret file will raise some suspicions. The process is intended for files of a much smaller size.

So how does the destined receiver unlock the access to the file? The outputted file is actually a compressed .zip file – so any utility that can open .zip can then extract the secret data. To a normal, unbeknownst individual the output file appears like any other JPG, complete with thumbnail previews in Windows Explorer for example.

Download JPG+ FileBinder