Extract Hidden Text from an Image
Reveal a secret message hidden inside an image — drop the picture, enter the password if there is one, and read the text. Free and in your browser.
Drop an image to reveal its hidden message
Drag & drop, paste, or pick a file
PNG · JPG · WebP — processed on your device
Reading a hidden message
If someone hid text inside an image with LSB steganography, this is how you read it back. The tool scans the picture's pixels, looks for the marker that signals an embedded message, and reconstructs the original text — all on your device.
Because the hidden data lives in bits the eye cannot see, the image gives no visible clue. The tool tells you whether a message is present, and if it was password-protected, it decrypts the text once you enter the correct password.
How to extract hidden text
- Switch to Extract. Open the Extract message tab — this page opens it for you.
- Drop the image. Drag, choose, or paste the picture you believe contains a hidden message.
- Reveal the text. Enter the password if one was set, then click Reveal. The hidden message appears ready to copy.
Use the original file
Extraction only works on the exact PNG that carries the message. A screenshot, a JPG copy, or a re-compressed version from a chat app will have lost the hidden bits — so always get the original file from whoever hid the message.
Extracting hidden text: what works and what doesn't
What it takes to read a message back out — the file you need, and why some images come up empty.
- What it reads
- The tool reconstructs text only from images where a message was embedded with this same LSB scheme — it scans the RGB least-significant bits for the marker that signals hidden data.
- Required file
- The exact PNG that carries the message. A screenshot, a JPG copy, or a chat-app-compressed version has had its pixels rewritten, so the hidden bits are already gone.
- Password-protected messages
- If the message was encrypted, you must enter the same password to read it. A wrong password fails cleanly with an error rather than returning scrambled characters.
- No message found
- If the marker isn't present, the tool tells you nothing is hidden — it won't invent text from an ordinary photo's natural pixel noise.
How much fits
There's no size requirement to extract — even a small image is read quickly, because the tool only needs to scan as many least-significant bits as the stored length field says the message occupies (it reads the 9-byte header first to learn that length).
Security: it hides, it doesn't lock
A reminder while you decode. Being able to extract a message means it was only hidden, not necessarily encrypted: if no password is asked for, that message was readable by anyone with a steganography extractor. If you go on to hide your own replies, add a password so they're encrypted as well as concealed.
Tips that actually matter
- Always ask the sender for the original downloaded PNG as a file attachment — that's the only copy with the message intact.
- If extraction reports nothing, the most common cause is that the image was re-saved or compressed after the message was hidden.
- Got an error about decryption? The image does contain a message — you just need the correct password.
More steganography tools
Frequently asked questions
How do I know if an image has a hidden message?
Drop it into the Extract tab and click Reveal. If the tool finds the steganography marker it shows the message; if not, it tells you nothing is hidden.
What if the message is password-protected?
Enter the password before clicking Reveal. With the right password the text is decrypted; a wrong password produces a clear error rather than garbage.
Why can't I extract text from a JPG I was sent?
If the image was saved or re-compressed as JPG after the message was hidden, the lossy compression erased the hidden bits. You need the original lossless PNG.
Where is my image processed?
The hiding and extracting happen in your browser, so the new file is created on your own device. How any data associated with the tool is handled is described in our privacy policy.
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