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linuxfileplotbinaryfiles

Plot histogram of binary file

I am starring at a set of binary files. I'd like to know what is the quickest way to plot an histogram of the binary values stored in this file. In other word, I'd like to know if the file are actually compressed and thus the histogram should be pretty flat over [0..255].

Solution

  • I ended up using binwalk -E, this is directly accessible from most Linux distribution (I use Debian). Here is what I got:

    enter image description here

    The histogram is pretty flat, so clearly that answer my question: this is compressed data. binwalk was not able to recognize any known signature so this must be some kind of private encryption + compression.