{"id":2822,"date":"2026-04-28T15:02:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T19:02:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/?page_id=2822"},"modified":"2026-05-01T21:36:24","modified_gmt":"2026-05-02T01:36:24","slug":"glitch-images","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/glitch-images\/","title":{"rendered":"Databending &amp; Glitching Images"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Databending &amp; Glitching Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Part 1.<\/em><\/strong> Convert your image file to a <strong>.bmp<\/strong> (bitmap file).<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0Go to <a href=\"http:\/\/photopea.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><strong>photopea.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0Drag &amp; drop your image file into the web page.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u00a0Convert the image filetype by going to <strong>File<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Export as<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>More<\/strong> \u2192 choose <strong>BMP<\/strong> \u2192 hit <strong>Save<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Make a copy of this <strong>.bmp<\/strong> to save as an original version, and duplicate this file each time you want to make a new glitched version.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Part 2.<\/em><\/strong> Edit the image as a text file.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u00a0You can do this with most text editors (i.e. TextEdit on a Mac or Notepad on a Windows machine) but I recommend downloading <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sublimetext.com\/\"><strong>Sublime Text<\/strong><\/a> for easy editing.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Right-click on the <strong>.bmp<\/strong> file of your image and choose to open with Sublime (you may have to search for it).<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Once the image is open in Sublime, go to <strong>File<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Reopen File as Text<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Notice the two tabs open, one with the image visible and one with the image as a text file. To alter this image, try copy\/pasting, rearranging, &amp; deleting lines in the text file.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save the text file (<strong>File<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Save<\/strong>)<strong> <\/strong>and toggle back to the image tab to see what changes you\u2019ve made.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Go back and forth to check your results as you keep making adjustments to the text file.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Avoid messing with the text at the very top and bottom of the document, as this is part of the file header and could cause the file to break.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Part 3.<\/em><\/strong> Edit the image as an audio file.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Download <a href=\"https:\/\/www.audacityteam.org\/download\/\"><strong>Audacity<\/strong><\/a> on your computer.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>With Audacity open, choose <strong>File<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Import<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Raw Data\u2026<\/strong> \u2192 select your <strong>.bmp<\/strong> file \u2192 <strong>Open<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>When prompted, select <strong>Encoding: A-Law<\/strong> and <strong>Byte order: Little-endian <\/strong>\u2192 <strong>Import<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>You can now alter this image by applying effects (from the <strong>Effects<\/strong> menu) to portions of the audio waveform.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Save the file (<strong>File<\/strong> \u2192 <strong>Export Audio\u2026<\/strong>) and choose <strong>Export to computer<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Choose <strong>Format: Other uncompressed files<\/strong>, <strong>Header: RAW (header-less)<\/strong>, and <strong>Encoding: A-Law <\/strong>\u2192 <strong>Export<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Open the <strong>.raw<\/strong> file created to preview the image result.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u00a0Similar to text editing, try to leave the first and last 5 seconds alone, to avoid breaking the file. For the same reason, avoid effects that lengthen the audio file.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong><em>Resources!!!<\/em><\/strong> Explore more about Databending and Glitch Art<a href=\"https:\/\/www.glitch.cool\/\"><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.glitch.cool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">glitch[dot]cool<\/a>: Glitch Art Tutorial 01: Databending in Audacity<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/beyondresolution.info\/A-Vernacular-of-File-Formats\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">A Vernacular of File Formats by artist Rosa Menkman<\/a> (<a href=\"http:\/\/chrome-extension:\/\/efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj\/https:\/\/beyondresolution.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/hifi%20Rosa%20Menkman%20-%20A%20Vernacular%20of%20File%20Formats.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pdf here<\/a>)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/nickbriz.com\/databending101\/intro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Databending Introduction by Nick Briz<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Databending &amp; Glitching Images Part 1. Convert your image file to a .bmp (bitmap file). Make a copy of this .bmp to save as an original version, and duplicate this file each time you want to make a new glitched version. Part 2. Edit the image as a text file. Avoid messing with the text [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5090,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2822","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5090"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2822"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2822\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2834,"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2822\/revisions\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.smith.edu\/project-resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}