Question 1

How much data can I hide in an image?

Accepted Answer

About one bit per color channel per pixel. A 1024×1024 PNG can hide roughly 384 KB of payload (3 channels × 1 bit × 1M pixels / 8). The tool warns if your message is too large for the chosen image.

Question 2

Will the image look different?

Accepted Answer

Visually no — flipping the lowest bit changes each color value by at most 1, which is imperceptible. Statistically yes: tools designed for steganalysis can detect LSB modifications via histogram analysis.

Question 3

Why PNG and not JPG?

Accepted Answer

JPEG uses lossy compression that destroys LSB data on save. PNG is lossless, so the embedded bits survive intact. The same restriction applies to lossy formats like WebP-lossy.

Question 4

Can social media platforms read my stego image?

Accepted Answer

They cannot read it without the extraction tool, but they often re-encode uploaded images (to JPEG, with stripped metadata) which destroys the payload. Send stego-images as direct file attachments, not via image-hosting services.

Question 5

Is steganography legal?

Accepted Answer

In most jurisdictions, yes — it is just data manipulation. Some countries restrict cryptography or anonymizing tools more broadly. Do your homework before traveling with stego content.

Stéganographie