What is the VDATA file format?
A .vdata file is a hidden photo or video produced by the Vaulty Android app, developed by Squid Tooth, LLC. Vaulty was a media-hiding utility that let users move photos and videos out of the standard Android gallery by relocating them to a private folder and renaming them with the .vdata extension - preventing gallery apps and media scanners from indexing or displaying them.
The format is not an independent container. The underlying data is an ordinary media file - most often a JPEG image, PNG, MP4 video, .3gp, or .avi - with the extension swapped to .vdata. In many Vaulty versions the bytes are left intact and the file can be recovered by restoring it through the Vaulty app itself, or by renaming the .vdata file back to its original extension and opening it in any compatible viewer or player.
Vaulty provided obscurity rather than strong cryptographic protection. Files were hidden from casual gallery browsing but were not securely encrypted. Because Vaulty has since been discontinued and removed from Google Play, users who still hold .vdata files typically need to:
- Reinstall an older APK of Vaulty and log in with the original account to restore files via the app.
- Try renaming the file to its original extension (
.jpg,.mp4, etc.) using a file manager and opening it directly.
The format carries no documented magic bytes or fixed header, and is identified by context rather than any internal signature.
Security & safety
RISK: MEDIUMA .vdata is hidden media, not an executable, so it won't run code. The real caveats are privacy and recovery: Vaulty hides rather than strongly encrypts, so don't treat .vdata as secure storage, and back up important photos in a maintained app since Vaulty is discontinued and orphaned .vdata files are easily lost. Beware online 'Vaulty recovery tools' and 'vdata converters' that may be scams or malware - prefer the rename-test and a real backup.
Format details
in a nutshell- Generic application data files - Various programs use '.vdata' for internal data dumps or value tables; unrelated to Vaulty and far less common.
Programs that open VDATA files
Windows1 app
Rename to .jpg/.mp4 then open
Open-source Copy the file to a PC, rename a copy to .jpg or .mp4, and try a viewer/VLC. If it was obfuscated it won't open without Vaulty. 
Android2 apps
Vaulty (legacy app)
Freemium If still installed, open Vaulty and 'un-hide'/restore the item to view it as a normal photo/video. The app is discontinued and no longer on Google Play.
A file manager (rename test)
Free Copy a .vdata and rename the copy to .jpg or .mp4, then try opening it - works in versions where Vaulty only renamed (didn't obfuscate) the media. Technical details
deep spec| Developer | Squid Tooth, LLC |
| Primary purpose | Hiding photos and videos from Android gallery scanners and media indexers by renaming and relocating them |
| Underlying format | Original media file (JPEG, PNG, MP4, 3GP, AVI) renamed with the .vdata extension; not a new or independent container |
| Platform | Android exclusively; no iOS or desktop version of Vaulty was released |
| MIME type | application/octet-stream |
| Encoding | Binary; original media bytes preserved as-is or lightly obfuscated depending on the Vaulty version that created the file |
| Typical file size | Tens of KB to tens of MB, matching the size of the original hidden photo or video |
| Security model | Obfuscation by extension rename and folder relocation only; not cryptographic encryption - the underlying media is often recoverable without a key |
| File signature / magic bytes | None defined; no fixed header or byte pattern - identified by the Vaulty app context, not by an internal signature |
| Gallery exclusion mechanism | The unrecognized .vdata extension causes Android MediaStore to skip indexing the file, hiding it from gallery and media player apps |
| Recovery method | Restore via the Vaulty app using the original account, or rename the file to its original extension (.jpg, .mp4, etc.) and open it directly in a compatible app |
| Associated source formats | JPEG, PNG, MP4, 3GP, AVI - the image and video types that Vaulty supported hiding |
| Storage location | Vaulty's private app-specific directory on device internal storage or SD card, outside the standard DCIM/Pictures paths |
| App status | Discontinued; removed from the Google Play Store; no actively maintained successor app exists |
| Internal format versioning | None; the format is undocumented and tied entirely to whichever Vaulty app version created the file |
| Released | early 2010s (Vaulty for Android) |
| Latest version | Defined by the Vaulty app release that created it |
| Specification | en.wikipedia.org |
VDATA conversions
Community Q&A
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