Will EnCase Gallery view display a .jpeg file if its file extension was renamed to .txt?

The correct answer indicates that EnCase Gallery view can display a .jpeg file even if its file extension has been renamed to .txt, but only if a signature analysis is performed. This is rooted in the way EnCase processes files: while file extensions can provide hints about the type of content a file may contain, they can be misleading. EnCase relies on file header information—specific binary patterns located at the beginning of a file that are unique to certain formats—to accurately identify the file type.

When a file's extension is altered, as in this case from .jpeg to .txt, the operating system and many applications may analyze the file based solely on its extension, potentially misclassifying it. However, EnCase's signature analysis looks deeper, examining the actual content of the file rather than relying on the name it has been given. If the header matches the signature of a JPEG file, EnCase will recognize and display it correctly in the Gallery view as a picture, despite the misleading extension.

Thus, the process of signature analysis is crucial in ensuring that content is classified correctly, demonstrating why this option is the most accurate in this scenario.