Guides
Straight answers to the questions that come up when you're wrangling files: which format to use, why something is enormous, and what all the numbers actually mean. No jargon for its own sake.
Images
JPG, PNG or WebP: Which Image Format Should You Use?
The three formats that cover almost everything on the web, what each one is actually good at, and the simple rule for picking between them.
Resolution, DPI and File Size: What Actually Matters
Why DPI does nothing on a screen, what "300 DPI" really means for print, and how to resize an image without guessing.
How to Remove an Image Background (and When It Fails)
What automatic background removal is genuinely good at, the subjects that defeat it every time, and how to get a clean cut-out you can drop onto anything.
How to Make an Image Smaller for Email or a Website
Resize or compress? The two levers do different things, and picking the wrong one is why your photo is still too big.
Audio
Audio Formats Explained: MP3, WAV, FLAC and AAC
Lossy versus lossless in plain language, what bitrate actually means, and which format to reach for depending on what you are doing.
Speech to Text: How Accurate Is It, and How to Get Better Results
What automatic transcription handles well, what still defeats it, and the recording habits that separate a usable transcript from a useless one.
How to Remove Background Noise From a Recording
Which kinds of noise can actually be removed, which cannot, and how to pick the right method instead of guessing.
How to Make a Ringtone From Any Song
Picking the right few seconds, the format your phone actually wants, and why iPhone and Android need different files.
Video
Video Formats Explained: MP4, MOV, AVI, MKV and WebM
The difference between a container and a codec, why an MP4 and an MKV can hold identical video, and which format to pick so your file actually plays where you need it to.
Video Too Big to Send? Size Limits and How to Get Under Them
The actual attachment limits for email, WhatsApp, Discord and the rest - and a decision tree for getting your video under whichever one is blocking you.
How to Add Subtitles to a Video
Why subtitles matter more than most people assume, how automatic transcription goes wrong, and what an SRT file actually is.
How to Extract Audio From a Video
Pulling the soundtrack out of a video file, which format to save it in, and why the result is so much smaller than what you started with.
How to Reduce PDF File Size for Email
Why your PDF is 40 MB when it looks like plain text, and the fastest ways to get it under an attachment limit without it turning to mush.
Converting PDF to Word Without Wrecking the Formatting
Why the layout falls apart, which documents convert cleanly, and what to do when the result arrives as a jumble of text boxes.
How to Password-Protect a PDF, and What That Actually Prevents
The difference between a password that stops people opening a file and one that merely asks them not to print it, and which you probably want.