Notes on formats, routes, and why files misbehave

Short, specific pieces on what actually happens when a file changes format — written by the people who build the routes.

Guide

How to convert a PDF to Word without losing the table

The four things that break, in order of likelihood, and what to do about each one before you convert rather than after.

7 min · 4 Sep 2026

Deep dive

Step count is the wrong way to judge a conversion

A conversion that takes a beat longer can keep more of your file than a quick one. What matters is what arrives, not how it got there — so we grade the result, and tell you before you convert.

6 min · 28 Aug 2026

Formats

What .odt is for, and why your council insists on it

OpenDocument is not a worse Word file. It is a standard with a different set of politics behind it, and knowing which is which helps.

5 min · 21 Aug 2026

Guide

When to send a JPEG and when to send a PNG

One of them is for photographs and one of them is for screenshots, and sending the wrong one is why your email bounced.

4 min · 12 Aug 2026

Deep dive

Why a 3 MB PNG becomes a 400 KB JPEG and looks identical

A tour of lossy compression using the only example anyone cares about: the screenshot you are trying to email.

9 min · 3 Aug 2026

Formats

SVG is not an image format

It is a drawing program that happens to live in a file. This is why converting to SVG never does what people hope it will do.

6 min · 24 Jul 2026

Guide

Turning a slide deck into something people can actually open

PPTX, PPT and PDF, and which one to send depending on whether the recipient is presenting or reading.

5 min · 15 Jul 2026

Changelog

Added: TIFF in, TIFF out, and 26 new conversions

Scanners insist on TIFF and archives insist on TIFF, so it is a first-class format now. Everything it unlocked, listed.

3 min · 8 Jul 2026

Deep dive

We deleted our logs and nothing bad happened

Building a converter that keeps no filenames means giving up some debugging comfort. It was worth it. Here is what we lost.

8 min · 1 Jul 2026