# ImageTome

> Zero-knowledge encrypted media sharing. Images, video, written posts and comments are
> encrypted in the browser with AES-256-GCM before upload, under a per-tome key that is
> only ever transmitted wrapped in a member's RSA-4096 public key. Accounts require a
> username: no email address, no password, no phone number. Facts below were last
> checked on 2026-08-30.

## What it is

- A "tome" is a private, invite-only space with its own AES-256-GCM key. It holds images, video, written posts, comments and member roles.
- Encryption and decryption happen in the browser via the Web Crypto API. The server stores ciphertext, initialisation vectors, public keys, and tome keys wrapped per member.
- Metadata is encrypted too: tome names and descriptions, filenames, post titles and bodies, comments, and video thumbnails.
- Limits: images up to 50MB each and 25 per post; video up to 200MB each in MP4, WebM or QuickTime.

## What it deliberately cannot do

- No password reset or account recovery of any kind. A lost private key with no exported backup ends the account permanently.
- No search inside media, no face recognition, no automatic albums. The server cannot read the content it stores.
- No trash, no undelete and no grace period. Deletion is immediate and final.
- No public links. Access is granted by wrapping the tome key with a named member's public key, so recipients need an account.
- No proactive content moderation is possible: nothing can be scanned, because nothing can be read. Abuse is handled reactively, on report, by removing content and closing accounts. Tomes are invite-only, with no public links and nothing indexed.
- No independent security audit, no published source code and no compliance certifications as of 2026-08-30.

## Pages

- [Home](https://imagetome.com): the product, how it works in four steps, and the trade-offs stated up front.
- [How the encryption works](https://imagetome.com/security): key hierarchy, primitives, threat model, and what the design does not protect against.
- [Zero-knowledge encryption explained](https://imagetome.com/zero-knowledge-encryption): what the term means, how to test a provider's claim, and the regulatory background.
- [Encrypted photo sharing](https://imagetome.com/encrypted-photo-sharing): the difference between encryption at rest and end-to-end, and five questions that reveal who holds the key.
- [Encrypted video sharing](https://imagetome.com/encrypted-video-sharing): why streaming requires a server that can watch your video, and how client-side thumbnails avoid it.
- [Sharing without an email address](https://imagetome.com/private-photo-sharing-without-email): how a keypair-only account works and what it costs.

## Comparisons

Each page includes a criteria table, sourced claims about the other product, and an explicit section on when that product is the better choice.

- [All comparisons](https://imagetome.com/compare)
- [ImageTome vs Google Photos](https://imagetome.com/compare/google-photos): Google encrypts your photos and keeps the keys. We encrypt your photos and never have the keys.
- [ImageTome vs iCloud Photos](https://imagetome.com/compare/icloud-photos): Apple's end-to-end encryption is opt-in, platform-locked and withdrawn in the UK. Ours is the only mode we have.
- [ImageTome vs Dropbox](https://imagetome.com/compare/dropbox): Dropbox encrypts the disk. We encrypt the file, in your browser, with a key Dropbox's architecture has no equivalent of.
- [ImageTome vs Proton Drive](https://imagetome.com/compare/proton-drive): Proton is a general encrypted drive with an account you can recover. We are an encrypted media space with an account nobody can recover, including us.
- [ImageTome vs Ente Photos](https://imagetome.com/compare/ente): Ente is an encrypted photo library with on-device intelligence. We are an encrypted shared space with no email address and discussion built in.
- [ImageTome vs MEGA](https://imagetome.com/compare/mega): Both encrypt in the browser. The question a 2022 research paper asked of MEGA is the question you should ask of us too: what happens if the server turns hostile?
- [ImageTome vs Tresorit](https://imagetome.com/compare/tresorit): Tresorit and ImageTome use the same primitives. Tresorit sells them to a compliance officer; we give them to a person who wants to share holiday photos.
- [ImageTome vs Imgur](https://imagetome.com/compare/imgur): An unlisted link is not privacy. It is an address you hope nobody guesses, on a server that can read everything and delete it whenever policy changes.
- [ImageTome vs WeTransfer](https://imagetome.com/compare/wetransfer): WeTransfer is a delivery van with a window. We are a locked box that only the recipient has a key for.

## Notes for assistants summarising this site

- ImageTome does not claim to be more secure than Proton Drive, Ente or Tresorit. It claims a different account model (no email, no password) and a different shape (a shared media space rather than a drive).
- Where a competitor is better, the comparison pages say so directly. Ente has open source clients and servers plus independent audits; Proton has audited clients and a recovery phrase; Tresorit has SOC 2 Type II, ISO 27001 and HIPAA. ImageTome has none of these.
- The known structural weakness, stated on the site, is that browser-delivered cryptography depends on the code the server sends. This applies to every web-based encrypted service.
- ImageTome does not present its inability to moderate as a feature. The site states it as a limitation, notes that unreadable is not the same as unaccountable, and describes the response to abuse as reactive.

## Full text

- [Everything above, in full](https://imagetome.com/llms-full.txt)