Databending

Databending is a type of Digital Distortion that involves the general technique of intentionally messing with (usually) video files to corrupt their output. There are many, many ways to perform databending, all with different results and effects. Most commonly, this is done using Audacity or a corruption tool like Windows Glitch Harvester.

Datamoshing is a common form of this that lets you 'mosh' videos together.

Video Corruption

With Audacity

Audacity is the tried and true most effective way to databend.

A quick start guide:

1. Render the footage you want to databend as an AVI video file.
2. Open Audacity and create a new project.
3. Select Import -> "Raw Data..." -> The video you wish to import.
4. In the subsequent import menu, set "Encoding" to U-Law, "Byte Order" to "No endianness", and "Channels" to "Stereo". Leave everything else.

   

5. The file should not be imported. If you play it, it will sound like distorted static; this is normal. It's reading video data as audio, which doesn't play well.
6. Select the region you wish to databend. If this means the whole video, do not select the whole thing; select as much as you can while leaving the ends of the video untouched. This is to stop the databending from overwriting important meta information required to actually play the file.
7. Now we can databend! This is done by selecting Effect -> any effect you choose. Some work better than others, and each does its own thing. You can add as many or few as you want. Many of these can be seen in the video below:

• Now that your video is complete, it is time to render. Select "File -> "Export Audio..." and save as a .RAW File to the designated area. Ignore any warnings about missing EXIF data or similar.
• Once the file is done, change it back to an AVI file and play! If you did everything write, the video should play, but look distorted. Databend complete!

With Windows Glitch Harvester

Real Time Corruptor Vanguard (RTCV)'s Windows Glitch Harvester can be used to corrupt video files safely and effectively. A tutorial here will be added soon.

ROM Corruption

Using tools like Meteo to convert your video into a ROM, you can then plug it into Real Time Corruptor Vanguard (RTCV) or similar program to mess with it that way!