Detailed explanations, backed by measured figures, to convert, compress, organise and share your files without losing sight of their quality or their privacy.
Each guide only describes features that actually exist in FileXvert. The figures quoted come from measurements made with the converter's exact settings, on files described in the article.
20 articles
On a scan, the text is made of pixels. A rectangle placed over it hides it on screen, but the original image stays in the file. A measured demonstration, and what the “Erase an area” tool does.
Postcodes losing their zero, rounded references, “1,234” misread: the traps of a CSV opened in a spreadsheet. What FileXvert recognises as a number, cell by cell, and why.
For a page of text, PNG weighs barely more than JPG and stays perfectly sharp. For a photo, it weighs 5.4 times more. Our measurements with FileXvert's settings, and when to turn a PDF into images.
A JPG photo goes into a PDF with no loss and almost no extra size. The same photo as PNG gives a PDF eight times heavier. Measurements, explanation and good habits.
A 261 MB video contains only 15.6 MB of sound, and 2.1 MB is enough as MP3. Our measurements on a real video, which format to choose for each use, and the traps to avoid.
People say a JPG gets worse every time it is saved. We re-saved the same photo ten times in a row with different settings: the result is more nuanced, and the real causes of degradation lie elsewhere.
Going from 60 to 30 frames per second barely lightens a video; going from 1080p to 720p divides it by two and a half. Our measurements on a single clip, and how to read a file's technical details.
We converted an MKV with two audio tracks and subtitles using FileXvert's settings: the picture and the first audio track make it through, the rest does not. What to know before converting a film or a series.
AVI files from the 2000s (DivX, Xvid) play less and less well. Converted to MP4, they become playable everywhere again and weigh up to three times less: our measurements, and the precautions to take.
Layout, fonts, special characters, size: what a PDF conversion in the browser really gives you, tested on a 900-word text, and when you are better off using your word processor.
We compressed a real smartphone video with each FileXvert level: resulting size, measured fidelity, and why the same setting gives very different results depending on your browser.
File size and fidelity measured on a photo and on a photographed document: when WebP really saves space, when it does nothing, and why saving a photo as PNG is almost always a mistake.
Real sizes of the same recording as WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC and OGG, what bitrate actually means, and why converting an MP3 to FLAC never restores lost quality.
A five-second GIF weighs almost nine times more than an identical MP4: we measured it. What explains the gap, the settings FileXvert applies, and when a short video is the better choice.
MP4, MOV, MKV and AVI on one side; H.264, H.265, VP9 and AAC on the other. Understanding the difference between a container and a codec explains most unplayable videos, and helps you choose the right conversion.
Why iPhone videos are MOV files, what switching to MP4 really changes, and what we measured on a real smartphone video: size, time and quality.
What changes when conversion runs inside your browser, how to verify for yourself that no file leaves your device, and the honest limits of this approach.
Why a 20 MB attachment can be rejected by a 25 MB limit, how many seconds of video actually fit in an email, and how to shrink photos, videos and audio without ruining them.
Why some PDFs give clean text and others give nothing at all, how text is rebuilt line by line, and the method for getting a reusable TXT or Markdown file.
A method for assembling a readable PDF from several documents, and the traps that leak information: fake redaction, metadata, forgotten pages.