Methods and a system of licensing electronic data are provided. A method of ensuring proper licensing is provided, comprising the executable instructions of receiving a data file and removing at least a portion of the data file which prevents any use associated with the data file. Further, a license authenticating set of executable instructions are wrapped around the data file and executed to determine whether the data file is associated with a valid license. If the data file is associated with a valid license, the removed portion of the data file is restored making the data file available for use.A method of authenticating a license set of executable instructions is provided, having executable instructions wherein the license set of executable instructions is received while a computing device housing the license set of executable instructions is in communication with one or more licensing computing devices. The license set of executable instructions is executed on the computing device to determine if a valid license exist, and the license set of executable instructions is prevented from further executing on the computing device if the valid license does not exist.Furthermore, a system for validating data files is provided having a wrapping set of executable instructions operable to be executed prior to using a data file on a computing device. Moreover, a validation set of executable instructions is provided operable to permit the data file to be useable on the computing device if a valid license to use the data file exists on the computing device.