Guides

Practical, evergreen answers to everyday file problems. Each guide ends in a tool that runs in your browser: your files never leave your device.

Size limit Compress a PDF so it fits in an email Most mailboxes cap attachments around 25 MB (Gmail’s documented limit), and corporate servers are often stricter. A scanned contract or a brochure blows past that easily. Here is how to shrink it in two minutes, without your document leaving your computer.
How-to How to blur part of an image without leaking it A name in a chat, a face in a photo, an address on an invoice: before a screenshot goes to a forum or a client, the sensitive zone has to go. The catch is that not every blur actually removes information, and the image should not transit through a server on the way.
Format comparison WebP vs JPEG: which one should you use? Short answer: WebP for the web, JPEG when you cannot control where the file ends up. WebP compresses noticeably better and supports transparency; JPEG opens absolutely everywhere, including ten-year-old software and picky upload forms.
Size limit Compress a video to fit Discord’s upload limit Discord caps uploads for free accounts, and the cap has changed several times over the years, so the honest advice is: aim comfortably under whatever the app shows you today. A gameplay clip fresh out of a recorder blows past it easily; two minutes of local compression fix it.
Size limit Compress a video so it sends well on WhatsApp WhatsApp limits how big a video you can send, and the exact cap depends on the app version and how you send it, so the honest advice is: aim comfortably under whatever the app accepts for you today. WhatsApp also re-encodes media aggressively on delivery, and a video that is already a sensible size survives that step in much better shape.
Format comparison PNG vs JPG: which image format should you use? PNG and JPG solve different problems: PNG stores pixels losslessly and supports transparency, JPG throws away detail your eye barely notices to make photos dramatically smaller. Pick by content, not by habit: interfaces and text want PNG, photographs want JPG.
How-to Remove EXIF and GPS data from a photo before sharing it Photos taken with a phone or camera embed EXIF metadata: device model, capture date, settings, and often the exact GPS coordinates of where you stood. The EXIF reader here shows what a photo reveals and produces a clean copy, entirely in your browser, because uploading a photo somewhere to protect your privacy would defeat the point.
How-to Record your screen without installing anything Modern browsers can capture the screen natively, so a quick recording does not need a downloaded app, a watermark or an account. The screen recorder here uses that built-in capture: you choose what to share, the recording happens in the page, and the file stays on your device.
How-to Sign a PDF without printing or scanning A lease, a quote, a school form: someone sends you a PDF and wants it back signed. The paper route (print, sign, scan, hope it is readable) takes fifteen minutes and a working printer. Doing it in your browser takes two, and the document never leaves your computer.
Size limit Get a PDF under 2 MB for an upload form Job applications, university admissions, visa and other administrative portals: many upload forms cap each file at 2 MB, a classic ceiling that a phone-scanned document blows past in two or three pages. Here is how to get under it locally, and what to do when compression alone is not enough.
Format comparison HEIC vs JPG: which one do you actually need? Short answer: HEIC is great on your iPhone, JPG is what the rest of the world expects. Apple’s format stores the same photo in roughly half the space, but the moment a file leaves the Apple ecosystem (a Windows PC, an upload form, an old printer) JPG is the safe bet.
How-to Extract the audio track from a video A lecture to listen to on the commute, a concert clip, an interview to transcribe: often the audio is all you need and the video is just dead weight. Extracting the track takes a minute in your browser, and the file never leaves your machine.
How-to Merge PDF files into one document Sending a contract with five attachments is annoying for the recipient. A client portfolio made of separate exports looks unfinished. Merging PDFs fixes both: one file, in the right order, ready to send or print. The merger here runs entirely in your browser, so nothing is uploaded and there is no wait.
How-to Split a PDF or extract specific pages A 40-page contract with only two relevant pages. A multi-chapter book PDF where you need chapter three. A scanned form set where every page is a separate document. Splitting and extracting pages is one of the most common PDF operations, and it should not require uploading confidential documents to a third-party server. The splitter here runs in your browser.
How-to Add page numbers to a PDF without uploading it A printed report without page numbers is hard to discuss in a meeting. A PDF submitted to a court or a review committee often requires them. Adding them should take thirty seconds, not a trip to Word and back. The page numbering tool runs in your browser: drop the PDF in, pick the position and format, download the numbered copy.
How-to Convert a PDF to JPG images without uploading it Extracting images from a PDF is useful for presentations, thumbnails, social media posts, or sharing individual pages without sending the whole document. A PDF page rendered to a JPG is also the cleaner alternative to a screenshot when you need a specific resolution. The converter runs in your browser and keeps your file on your device.
How-to How to create a Wi-Fi QR code for your venue or business Typing a long Wi-Fi password on a phone keypad is fiddly and wastes a few minutes of every guest's first impression. A QR code on a table card or a sign lets anyone connect with a single camera tap. This guide covers the four most common use cases: guest Wi-Fi, contactless menus, digital business cards, and QR codes with your logo in the center.
How-to Resize an image to exact pixel dimensions When a form asks for a 400x400 profile picture, or a print shop wants exactly 1200x1800 pixels, guessing is not good enough. This guide shows how to set precise dimensions and control the quality of the result, without sending your file to any server.
How-to Crop a profile picture to square or circle shape Most social platforms, video call apps and forum avatars display profile pictures as circles. Uploading a landscape or portrait photo and letting the platform crop it usually cuts off your face or leaves too much empty space. This guide shows how to frame the crop yourself and export the result already sized for the platform you need.
How-to Open iPhone HEIC photos on a Windows PC iPhones save photos in HEIC format by default because it produces smaller files than JPEG at the same visual quality. The problem: Windows does not open HEIC files without a paid codec extension, and many apps, websites and printing services only accept JPEG. Converting the file is the straightforward fix, and it takes under a minute in your browser without installing anything.
How-to Make a GIF from a video clip Animated GIFs are the universal shorthand for short looping clips: they play anywhere without a codec, embed in emails, forums and chat apps, and are immediately shareable. This guide covers how to turn a video clip into a GIF that looks good without becoming enormous, and how to trim the source first so the loop is tight.
How-to Rotate a sideways video to the correct orientation A video filmed on a phone held sideways plays sideways everywhere except the device that recorded it, because smartphones embed a rotation flag that most apps read but most editing tools ignore. This guide shows how to bake the correct orientation into the video file itself so it plays upright on every device, player and platform.
How-to Convert audio to MP3 in your browser MP3 is still the format that plays everywhere: car stereos, phones, smart speakers, podcast apps. When you have a WAV recording that is too big to share, an OGG file your device refuses to play, or an M4A your podcast host does not accept, converting to MP3 takes under a minute in your browser. Your file never leaves your device.
How-to Make a ringtone from any song in your browser A ringtone is just a short audio clip, usually 20 to 30 seconds, with a smooth fade-in so it does not blast at full volume from the first frame. You can cut any MP3, M4A or WAV to the exact section you want and export it ready to transfer to your phone, entirely in your browser.
How-to Remove vocals from a song for karaoke Center-channel cancellation can reduce the lead vocal in many commercially mixed stereo tracks, because vocals are typically panned to the center. The result varies a lot depending on how the track was mixed. This is not AI separation and it does not work perfectly on every song, but it is a fast, free, private way to get an instrumental version without uploading your file anywhere.
How-to Convert scanned documents to PDF for official submissions Many government websites and online forms only accept PDF documents, even when you are submitting a photo of an ID card or a utility bill. This guide shows how to convert your photos or scans to a single PDF file in your browser, without sending them to any server.
How-to Add a watermark to your ID before sharing it online When you send a copy of your ID card, passport or bank statement to a third party, that document can be reused for other purposes. Adding a visible watermark with a date and a reason limits that risk. This practice is recommended by French data protection authority CNIL and mirrors advice from privacy regulators in several other countries. This guide covers both flows: a photo scan using the image watermark tool and a PDF scan using the PDF watermark tool.
How-to Resize a passport or ID photo to the correct dimensions Passport and ID photo requirements specify exact dimensions in millimetres and a minimum resolution in DPI. Online government portals and photo printing services often reject photos that do not match these specifications. This guide shows how to resize your photo to the required dimensions in your browser, without uploading it to any service.
How-to Fill out a PDF form online without printing it Tax forms, grant applications and administrative declarations often come as PDF files with fields you are expected to fill in by typing. Printing, filling by hand and scanning wastes time and produces poor-quality results. This guide shows how to fill in PDF form fields, add a signature and save a completed copy, entirely in your browser.
How-to Compress an image without losing visible quality Most images leave a camera or design tool heavier than a browser or email needs them. Compression is not about degrading your image: at the right quality setting and format, the output looks identical to the source and loads two to five times faster. The key is choosing the right format first, then tuning quality second.
How-to Convert an MP4 to WebM for use on a website MP4 with H.264 is the universal safe choice for video, but WebM with VP9 is what modern browsers prefer for embedded web video: the file is smaller at the same quality, and no codec license is required. If you are putting a video on a web page, a WebM version alongside the MP4 gives the browser the lighter option to pick first.
Format comparison AVIF vs WebP: which next-gen image format should you use? Both AVIF and WebP beat JPEG and PNG by a significant margin, but they differ on the compression versus speed tradeoff. AVIF compresses up to 50 percent better than JPEG; WebP lands around 25 to 35 percent better and encodes much faster. For a web page you control, AVIF is worth the encoding wait; for anything where speed of delivery matters more than every kilobyte, WebP is the practical choice.
How-to How to create a strong password Weak passwords are the most common way accounts get compromised. Dictionary attacks and credential stuffing can crack a short or predictable password in seconds. A strong password is long, random, and unique to each service. The good news: you do not have to invent one yourself, and the generator below runs entirely in your browser using your device's own random source.
How-to How to format JSON online Raw JSON from an API response or a config file is often minified into a single long line. Reading it, debugging it or editing it in that state is painful. This guide shows how to pretty-print JSON with proper indentation in three clicks, validate it for syntax errors, and minify it back when needed, with everything running in your browser and no data leaving your tab.
How-to Remove a password from a PDF A PDF password prevents the file from opening unless you type the right passphrase. If you know the password but are tired of entering it every time you open the document, or if you want to share the file without forcing recipients to type a code, you can remove the protection permanently. This tool does that entirely in your browser, using a compiled version of qpdf. Your document is never uploaded.
How-to Extract text from a scanned PDF A scanned PDF is essentially a photograph of a page: the text looks right but cannot be selected, searched or copied because it is stored as pixels, not characters. Optical character recognition (OCR) converts those pixels back into actual text you can paste into a document, search with Ctrl+F or index for later. This guide uses an on-device OCR engine, so your scan never leaves your computer.
How-to How to remove metadata from a Word document before sharing it Every Word document you create carries invisible data: your name, your organisation, a full revision history and sometimes comments you thought you had deleted. When you email a contract or share a report, that information travels with the file. This guide shows how to strip it out in seconds, without sending the document to any server.