Troubleshooting

Steganography is fragile. The bits hidden in your images can easily be destroyed by everyday digital actions. If you are having trouble extracting data, check the common causes below.

1. Image Compression (Social Media & Apps)

The most common cause of extraction failure is re-compression.

• The Problem: Platforms like WhatsApp, Twitter, and Discord aggressively compress images to save bandwidth. This process discards the "noise" in the image—which is exactly where your steganographic data is stored.
• The Solution: Always share the raw image file as a "document" or through a file-sharing service (email, Google Drive, Dropbox, USB). Never send it as a standard photo message.

2. Incorrect Algorithm Selection

To extract data, you must select the exact same algorithm that was used to embed it.

• LSB will not work if the data was hidden using HILL.
• HILL will not work if the data was hidden using S-UNIWARD.
• If you aren't sure which one was used, you can try each algorithm one by one with your password.

3. Password Mismatch

Your password is used as the encryption key for the payload before it is embedded.

• Check for typos: Even a single extra space or a capitalization difference will result in an extraction failure.
• The Result: If the password is wrong, HideMyByte will return a generic decryption error. We cannot "brute force" the password for you, as it is never stored on our servers.

4. Resizing or Cropping

Even small edits to the image after embedding will break the steganography.

• Resizing: Changing the dimensions (e.g., from 1920x1080 to 1280x720) overwrites almost every pixel.
• Cropping: Removing even a single row or column of pixels shifts the coordinate system, making the extraction algorithm read the "wrong" bits.

5. Converting File Formats

If you embedded data into a PNG and then converted it to a JPG, the data is likely lost.

• PNG is lossless, meaning every pixel is preserved exactly.
• JPG is lossy, meaning the conversion process slightly alters pixel values to save space—this destroys the hidden stego bits.
• Rule: Keep the file in its original format until extraction is complete.