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The bizarre secrets I found investigating corrupt Winamp skins (jordaneldredge.com)

submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

How do these contain random files like this? Isn’t it just a file that applies some kind of visual effect to the media player?

[–] [email protected] 18 points 8 months ago (2 children)

They're zip files, with the extension renamed. So you could probably have almost anything in one.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Oh so they’re actually created the same way as a zip file? That makes sense I guess. Thanks.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

A surprising number of "file formats" these days are really just zip files with a standard for the filenames and folders contained within. There's likely a ton of wonderful secrets like these to be found in the collective dataspace of humanity.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Wonder how using a zip bomb works out...

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

I was thinking of moving my "system32" porn archive into a winamp skin. Teenage me would be very proud

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

The author touches on this near the beginning-

Winamp skins are actually just zip files with a different file extension

So they're treating them like archives and extracting them

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Everything is just a zip file with a different extension

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Seriously though, it's been some time be afaik any microsoft product file that ends in x, .docx, .xlsx, .pbix are all just archives and you can totally interact with them programmatically if you want. Really easy to corrupt them but hey, found it interesting years ago.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I take issue with "everything", as most things are not. But it is a common trick when a developer wants to make a "new" file format that encapsulates a bunch of different files.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (3 children)

Everything, including you, is a .zip file.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

😧🤐

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Transcription is just unzipping your coding

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's just .zip files all the way down

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I just came here to say stuffit.