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Is it possible to get a virus from a music download?

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Summary: Depending on where you're downloading your music files from, you may or may not be downloading a virus instead.

Is it possible to get a virus from a music download?

As with all things, it depends.

If by "music download" you mean that you are downloading music files, MP3's, and the equivalent from trustworthy sources, then the news is good.

But if you mean something else, well, then things could be very bad indeed.

Music files such as MP3, WAV, and the like are highly unlikely to contain viruses. In theory I suppose, they could, but as I said it's highly unlikely and I've certainly never heard of one.

If you mean downloading music tools and programs, then you need to be very careful. Anything that's a program; a music player or a peer-to-peer networking program could contain viruses, spyware, or both. In fact, the peer-to-peer file sharing program Kazaa is notorious for the spyware that it carries with it.

Finally, if you're downloading from an untrustworthy site, all sorts of things are possible. It's quite possible that a site offering what it claims is a music file could, instead, be offering a different type of file entirely. Including a virus.

Related:

Article C2190 - September 18, 2004

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Recent Comments
55 Comments

Just for the record... I was downloading some music from limewire with an .mp3 extension, and my AVG Free picked it up as having an embedded trojan.

From what I've read on other forums, and from my own personal knowledge of computers, a file does not just have to be an .EXE to contain a virus. Every file is code, and that code is run by any program that is associated with it... If a certain file, being an .exe, .jpg, .gif, .mp3 has embedded code that can exploit (take advantage of) the program that it is intended to run in, then that file is deemed harmful.

You can never be too safe.

Posted by: Jeremy at June 5, 2008 8:56 PM

And yes...ANYTHING is possible.

Posted by: Jeremy at June 5, 2008 8:58 PM

HELP! My Ipod 40 GB has crashed and I found out it was because I had many songs on my itunes that were infected with viruses. Yes, yes, they are mostly from Limewire, some are from CD's I've purchased. But, my friend showed me how to scan the songs, and so I did and deleted any that were infected and I have downloaded more songs but before I hook up any Ipod to sinc it again, I will again scan the songs FIRST. Well, my 40 GB Ipod is still crashed and I can't seem to restore it. Is there any way that I can fix it to again download the now scanned songs back into my Ipod? If anyone has any ideas, please help! I don't have a lot of experience with technical computer tasks, and many of the young kids I work with have been helping me, but even they don't know what I should do to fix my Ipod now. I have to save up to buy another Ipod, but I don't even want to do that if this will and can happen again if I don't have all the viruses and attachments gone out of my computer where I have my songs. I've read that someone here who commented had lost 2 Ipod's. So, Leo...do you have any advice for what I should do now??? Thanks, Littleleslie

Posted by: Littleleslie at August 9, 2008 4:18 PM

i have only downloaded about 3 songs on limewire. 2 of them were viruses. one was so bad i had to reformat to get rid of the cheeky bugger. and it was definitely a MP3 extension (not exe). AVG didn't pick up on it until too late. Luckily the second virus was picked up by Kaspersky when i clicked 'play'. That was a good little investment. but in any case, i think its best not to play the song (in limewire or by external players) until you scan the file first. Then remember where you got it from and send the file holder a polite message.

Posted by: Ash at September 26, 2008 3:14 AM

Just like me i got spyware in the limewire download, it is so hard to deleate the spyware and the one major chance is to reformat it so i take my mind to reformat my pc so that it will be deleted so gud luck to you guys if u will downlod a song!

Posted by: Wew at October 9, 2008 6:44 AM

But i guess they said that if u download a song to limewire they said make sure the stars were fulled i mean more population downloading it and they said it doesn't contain virus i'm not sure but i guess so

Posted by: huh at October 9, 2008 6:52 AM

In an explorer window go to Tools->Folder options->view and un-check "hide extensions for known file types" option. This is one of the most dangerous defaults settings of all time.

It's possible to name an executable file as for example picture.jpg.exe and if the extension is hidden you might be fooled into thinking you have a picture file. If you have a file with a double extension where the final extension is executable odds are high its a virus.

Also beware of screen saver files .scr. The name means screen saver but your computer handles it exactly the same as an .exe file.

Posted by: Mark at April 30, 2009 4:10 AM

i have a nano chromatic and i had a few songs from limewire on it and now it wont even turn on... when i connect it to the charger it wont charge...not even with a wall charger...
can someone help me....

Posted by: kc katalyst at May 1, 2009 10:14 PM

For people who use Limewire, It's ok maybe to download ONE or TWO songs you want really badly a month.. but don't go crazy and download everything you think you might like... and you have to be POSITIVE that it's not a virus

Some Precautions to take would be:
If the Song/Video/Whatever contains only lowercase letters (i know it sounds stupid, but i tested it out. First lowercase download was infected with spyware)

If it has porn in the title, Don't download it obviously

If the song is Really small in file size, or has a short length (as in 0:01-0:30 or so), Its a virus most likely

And if its title is virus, It's probably a virus

Also, Don't risk downloading ANY programs from Limewire. I wouldn't be to sure about any videos either.

Posted by: Kenny at July 12, 2009 6:18 PM

See i have a Mac. Problem solved. Limewire is a free iTunes for me. yes i have downloaded viruses but they just sit there and wait for me to delete them. iChill w/ Virises lol hehehe |_ O |_ iHAPPY

Posted by: Ben at October 6, 2009 11:28 AM

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