FileForge: I stopped uploading my files to random converter sites
You don't need an online converter to turn HEIC into JPG, compress a photo, merge or sign a PDF, or decode a JWT. FileForge does all of that and more, 55 tools in total, inside your browser, so the file never leaves your device. It's free and open source, and runs as a Chrome or Firefox extension or as a web app that works offline.
FileForge is a free, open-source set of 55 file tools that runs entirely in your browser: images, PDFs and developer formats, with nothing uploaded anywhere. I built it because I was tired of handing my files to websites I didn't know, and it has made my week a little easier.
Why I replace the online services I use every day
For the last few years I've been doing the same thing again and again. I take a service I use all the time and build my own version. Not a copy: something that fits how I actually work and fixes the problems the original ignores. Logbeam started that way, and so did Health OS. FileForge is the most everyday one.
The problem with online file converters
Every week there was some small file job:
- An iPhone photo is HEIC, and the form only takes JPG.
- A scan has to be under 1 MB for an upload portal.
- A photo is sideways, or one PDF page is upside down.
- Three PDFs have to become one, with page numbers.
- A contract has to be signed and sent back today.
Each time I searched, opened a converter site I had never seen before, sat through the ads and limits, and uploaded the file. And these files were rarely boring: passport scans, contracts, payslips, medical results. I was giving them to strangers to save five minutes.
How to convert, compress and sign files without uploading them
These are the jobs I use it for most:
| The job | The tool |
|---|---|
| iPhone photo is HEIC | HEIC to JPG, or to PNG and WebP |
| Photo too big for an upload form | Compress, with a live preview and a target size in KB |
| Sideways photo or PDF page | Rotate & flip for images, Rotate for PDF pages, many files at once |
| Photo of a paper document | Scan document photo: straightens the page, whitens the paper, saves a PDF |
| Several PDFs into one | Merge, then Page numbers |
| A PDF to sign and fill in | Sign & fill: draw, type or upload a signature and place it anywhere |
| Screenshot with private details | Redact: black out, pixelate or blur |
| Photo with GPS location inside | Remove metadata: see what's there, then strip it |
| Passport or visa photo | ID & passport photo: 35 × 45 mm and other sizes, with a print sheet |
Developer tools that keep tokens on your machine
A second set of tools replaced the tabs I used to keep open at work:
- Markdown to PDF and Markdown to HTML, with a live preview.
- JWT decoder: header, payload, readable dates and the expiry check. The token never leaves the page, which matters when it's a real one from production.
- Table converter: CSV, TSV, Markdown, HTML or JSON in; a Markdown table, CSV, JSON or SQL
INSERTstatements out. - JSON format that points at the exact error position, Base64, URL encode and parse, checksums (SHA-256, MD5, CRC32), text diff and a regex tester.
How to batch-process a whole folder of files
Most of these jobs come in batches. Pipeline chains tools together and runs the chain on every file at once. A folder of photos for a website goes through resize, a watermark and compression, and comes back as one ZIP. A stack of documents goes through merge, page numbers and compression. You can drop a whole folder or a ZIP archive straight in.
photos/ resize → watermark → compress → photos.zip
docs/ merge → page numbers → compress → report.pdfIs it safe to convert sensitive files in the browser?
Convenience is nice, but it isn't the main point. The main point is that I know where my files go: nowhere.
- Every tool runs on your device, inside the browser. There is no FileForge server to upload to.
- No account, no analytics, no third-party scripts loaded from the network.
- The extension asks for no access to websites up front. It asks for one site only when you right-click an image there and open it in FileForge.
- The code is open, so you don't have to take my word for any of this. You can read it.
For a passport scan or a payslip, that matters more than any feature.
How to install FileForge
- Chrome, Edge, Brave, Opera: install from the Chrome Web Store.
- Firefox: install from Firefox Add-ons.
- No install: open the web app in any browser. It can be installed as an app and works offline.
The interface is in English and Ukrainian. The source is on GitHub under the MIT licence. If a tool is missing or something breaks, open an issue or send a pull request: that is how the next version gets better.
It's a small tool. But I no longer think twice before converting a passport scan, and that alone made my life a little easier.
Try it: Chrome Web Store · Firefox Add-ons · Web app · GitHub
About the tool: FileForge, image and PDF tools that never upload your files.