YouTube as infinite file storage
Anyone lucky enough to get a Gmail invite in early 2004 would have been amazed at the storage space on offer, a full gigabyte! Almost two decades later, there's more storage available for free from Google and its competitors, but it's still relatively easy to get to the paid tier. Consider this though, how about YouTube as an infinite cloud storage medium?
[DvorakDwarf]'s proof-of-concept code works by encoding binary files into video files which can then be uploaded to the video-sharing service. It's not a new idea as there were smart boxes back then 16 bit that would do the same with a VHS video recorder but it seems for now it does what it says and transforms YouTube into an infinite cloud file store.
The README file details a bit about how the code attempts to avoid the effects of YouTube's compression algorithm. It avoids RGB color for black and white pixels, and each pixel displayed in the video is made up of a block of actual pixels. The final video comes in at around four times the size of the original file and looks like noise on screen. There's a sample video, which we've placed below the break.
Whether this is against YouTube's TOS is likely open to interpretation, but we suspect the video site could spot these uploads with relative ease and apply a stronger compression algorithm that would corrupt them. As an alternative approach, we recommend hiding all your important data in podcast episodes.
Anyone lucky enough to get a Gmail invite in early 2004 would have been amazed at the storage space on offer, a full gigabyte! Almost two decades later, there's more storage available for free from Google and its competitors, but it's still relatively easy to get to the paid tier. Consider this though, how about YouTube as an infinite cloud storage medium?
[DvorakDwarf]'s proof-of-concept code works by encoding binary files into video files which can then be uploaded to the video-sharing service. It's not a new idea as there were smart boxes back then 16 bit that would do the same with a VHS video recorder but it seems for now it does what it says and transforms YouTube into an infinite cloud file store.
The README file details a bit about how the code attempts to avoid the effects of YouTube's compression algorithm. It avoids RGB color for black and white pixels, and each pixel displayed in the video is made up of a block of actual pixels. The final video comes in at around four times the size of the original file and looks like noise on screen. There's a sample video, which we've placed below the break.
Whether this is against YouTube's TOS is likely open to interpretation, but we suspect the video site could spot these uploads with relative ease and apply a stronger compression algorithm that would corrupt them. As an alternative approach, we recommend hiding all your important data in podcast episodes.
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