Original application of datamoshing required a bit more technical knowledge but now there are plugins that have been created to simulate the effect for Quartz Composer and Adobe After Effects. Datamoshing itself is the process of intentionally damaging or combining the input from two media files to create distortion effects on playback.ĭatamoshing became popular as a visual effect in 2005 and was seen in use during live video sets and in music videos. You may have seen similar effects unintentionally when streaming digital video and there is a lag in the Internet connection that makes the video appear to decompose.
In our second installment on Glitch Art we’re going to look at a type of glitch that is made using the compression artifacts from digital video called datamoshing.ĭatamoshing visual effects usually appear like small colorful squares sprinkled across a screen like confetti.