README.md

glitch-tool

glitch-tool is a simple Python script for messing with files in a few different ways. This tool was created for making glitch art, more specifically doing databending. You can read more about my results in this blog post. This tool was mostly created for this one-time use and therefore the code quality isn't great.

Usage

usage: glitch_tool.py [-h] [-i INFILE] [-m MODE] [-o OUTDIR] [-s SEED]
                      [-a AMOUNT] [-c CHANGES] [-b BYTES] [-r REPEAT_WIDTH]
                      [-q] [--output-iterations OUTPUT_ITERATIONS]

Required arguments:
  -i, --infile         Input file
  -m, --mode           File change mode
  -o, --outdir         Output folder
Optional arguments:
  -s, --seed           Seed to use for random
  -a, --amount         Amount of new files to create
  -c, --changes        Amount of random changes. Can be in a range, like 1-10.
  -b, --bytes          Amount of bytes to change each change. Can be in a range, like 1-10.
  -r, --repeat-width   Amount of bytes to repeat. Can be in a range, like 1-10.
  -q, --quiet          Surpress logging
  --output-iterations  How many changes between outputs

Modes

The valid modes are:

• change - Change bytes in chunk to random values.
• reverse - Reverse order of bytes in chunk.
• repeat - Repeat first X bytes (specfied with --repeat-width) of chunk throughout the chunk.
• remove - Remove the chunk entirely.
• zero - Make the chunk all zeroes.
• insert - Insert random chunk of data at a random point.
• replace - Replace chunk with a chunk of random data.
• move - Remove a chunk from one position to another.