About PDF-Files.com
PDF-Files.com is a collection of free online tools for everyday document and image work: editing and signing PDFs, merging and splitting them, converting between formats, compressing files for email, and resizing, cropping or converting images. It works in any modern browser on computers, tablets and phones, without installing software or creating an account.
Our approach: your files stay with you
Most online PDF services upload every file to their servers. We think that is usually unnecessary. Modern browsers are powerful enough to render, edit, encrypt and convert documents locally, so almost every tool on this site runs entirely inside your browser tab. The file you choose is read into memory on your own device, processed there and handed back as a download. It is never sent to us.
Some conversions genuinely need software that cannot run in a browser, such as converting PowerPoint presentations with full layout fidelity. Those tools are labelled "Processed on our server", upload only after you click convert, and delete the file immediately afterwards. Every tool page tells you exactly where processing happens.
How it works
When you open a tool, your browser downloads the code it needs, such as a PDF rendering engine or an image encoder, from our site. Some tools download extra data the first time you use them, for example OCR language files or an AI model for background removal. These downloads contain only software and data, never your files. Heavy work runs in background threads (Web Workers) and WebAssembly where possible, so the page stays responsive.
Honest about limitations
We would rather tell you what a tool can't do than promise perfection:
- PDF editing changes real text where the PDF contains it; scanned pages need OCR, and when an embedded font lacks a character you type, the editor tells you and substitutes a standard font.
- Converting PDF to Word, Excel or PowerPoint reconstructs content and is approximate for complex layouts.
- Word and Excel conversions in the browser produce an approximate layout; the optional server mode is more faithful.
- OCR and AI background removal are very good on clear inputs but not flawless.
- We cannot open PDFs whose password you don't know, and we never try to bypass passwords.
- Processing happens on your device, so very large files are limited by your device's memory.
Open-source credits
PDF-Files.com is built on excellent open-source software. We are grateful to the authors and communities behind:
| Project | Used for | Licence |
|---|---|---|
| pdf.js (Mozilla) | Rendering PDFs and reading text | Apache-2.0 |
| pdf-lib | Creating and modifying PDFs | MIT |
| @pdf-lib/fontkit | Embedding fonts in PDFs | MIT |
| qpdf, via qpdf-wasm | Encryption, decryption, repair and optimisation | Apache-2.0 |
| Tesseract.js | OCR text recognition | Apache-2.0 |
| Fabric.js | Editing canvas for objects and drawings | MIT |
| JSZip | ZIP downloads and Office file creation | MIT (dual MIT/GPLv3, used under MIT) |
| FileSaver.js | Saving downloads | MIT |
| pica | High-quality image resizing | MIT |
| browser-image-compression | Image compression | MIT |
| UTIF.js | Reading TIFF images | MIT |
| libheif-js (libheif) | Reading HEIC photos | LGPL-3.0 (loaded as a separate, unmodified library) |
| regenerator-runtime | Support code for complex-script font shaping | MIT |
| gifenc | Encoding GIF images | MIT |
| exifr | Reading image metadata | MIT |
| mammoth.js | Reading Word documents | BSD-2-Clause |
| SheetJS Community Edition | Reading spreadsheets | Apache-2.0 |
| html2canvas | Rendering HTML | MIT |
| SortableJS | Drag-and-drop reordering | MIT |
| Cropper.js | Image cropping | MIT |
| pako | Compression support | MIT and Zlib |
| Transformers.js (Hugging Face) | Running background-removal models in the browser | Apache-2.0 |
| MODNet model | Portrait background removal | Apache-2.0 |
| ormbg model | General background removal | Apache-2.0 |
| Noto Sans fonts (Google) | Unicode text in generated PDFs | SIL Open Font License 1.1 |
Conversion server mode uses LibreOffice (MPL-2.0) where it is enabled.
Get in touch
Found a bug, have an idea for a tool, or want to report a problem with a file? Visit our contact page.