What is databending?

Databending is a glitch art technique that involves opening a file in software not designed for that file type, then making modifications that corrupt the original data. The results are unpredictable visual artifacts that reveal the hidden structure of digital files.

The classic approach opens an image file (BMP, TIFF, or RAW work best) in an audio editor like Audacity. Applying audio effects -reverb, echo, amplification, filters -to the “sound” data corrupts the image in visually interesting ways. Different effects produce different distortions: reverb creates smearing, amplification causes color shifts, and filters generate banding patterns.

Text editor databending involves opening image files in Notepad or similar software and manually editing the code -deleting sections, copying and pasting chunks, or typing random characters. The key is avoiding the file header (first 50-100 characters) which contains format information the computer needs to open the file.

Databending produces genuinely unique results impossible to replicate exactly. Each experiment yields different artifacts based on file format, editing software, and specific modifications. Our databending tutorial covers safe file formats and recommended workflows.