4 min read
What compressing a PDF actually does
A PDF is a container, not an image. Whether it can be made smaller, and by how much, depends entirely on what is inside it.
Read the note: What compressing a PDF actually doesNotes
Notes
Working notes on file formats and on how the tools here are built. Written to be useful whether or not you use Toolspike, and kept free of numbers we cannot stand behind.
Most of what is written here comes out of building the tools: why a PDF that has been edited a dozen times is larger than the sum of its pages, why a JPEG cannot hold a transparent background, why re-encoding a photograph strips the GPS coordinates along with the camera settings. These are the details that decide whether a file behaves the way you expected.
There are no accuracy percentages, benchmark tables or user counts in these posts, because none of those have been measured here. Where something is a limitation, it is written as a limitation rather than reframed as a feature.
4 min read
Choosing between PNG, JPEG and WebP
Three formats, three different ideas about what an image is. Understanding how each one stores pixels makes the choice obvious in most cases.
Read the note: Choosing between PNG, JPEG and WebP4 min read
Why these tools run in your browser
Most online file converters upload your document to a server. Toolspike does not. Here is what that changes, what it costs, and how to verify the claim yourself.
Read the note: Why these tools run in your browser