How to protect my jar resource from extraction?

Question

I want distribute my *.jar file. I mean my application to be use but i don't want user or anybody extract my resource(sound, pic, and others).

How to protect it?

thx

Answer 1

Invent a DRM mechanism and once they crack it, sue them to death.

No, honestly, what you are trying to achieve is really, really complicated - if not impossible. You would need to encrypt the resources in a way that the key to the encryption mechanism would not be contained within the jar itself (as in hardcoding it in your code - hackers love this).

So you would need your application to open some online connection to a server under your control that would need to be online all the time - and your users would hate you for doing that because of all the trouble this generates (just follow online discussions about recent PC games)... is it really worth it?

Answer 2

This is impossible to do in Java or any language. If something can be used by your program, it can be taken. You can make it a bit more difficult for people, but at the end of the day if they want to steal graphics / sounds they can.

You'd be much better off putting your effort into making graphics and sounds etc which people like and are user-friendly.