Can viruses infect other files?

Question

Malware

Tell me, can viruses infect other files or are they stored only in those files that have only been corrupted by intruders?
For example, if there are a lot of viruses on a computer, and I connect a flash drive or other media and download files from it to this computer, can the flash drive get infected or suffer if only a download was made from it?

Answer 1

The short answer is yes. The virus can modify everything that is writable.