Guides and explainers on image formats, file conversion, encoding, and privacy — written for people who just want to get things done.
Most color laser printers embed invisible yellow dots on every page, encoding the printer serial number and timestamp. Most people have no idea.
When you upload a file to an online converter, where does it go? How long is it kept? Who can see it? Here's an honest look behind the scenes.
From tattooed slaves in ancient Greece to Cold War microdots to your color laser printer — hidden messages have been everywhere throughout history.
URLs can only contain certain characters. URL encoding converts everything else into a safe percent-encoded format. Here's why it exists and how it works.
Large image attachments slow down email and sometimes get blocked. Here's how to shrink them before sending with no visible quality difference.
Base64 converts binary data into plain text. Here's what it is, why it exists, and the practical situations where you'd actually need to use it.
Most online converters upload your files to servers you don't control. Here's what happens — and which file types you should be careful about.
WebP is Google's modern image format — smaller than JPG and PNG but not universally supported. Here's what it is and how to open or convert WebP files.
Steganography hides messages in plain sight — not scrambled, just invisible. Here's how it works and how to try it yourself.
HEIC is the default iPhone photo format — half the size of JPG, but Windows and Android can't always open it. Here's what's going on.
JPG, PNG, and WebP each have a job they're best at. Here's the plain-English breakdown of what's different and when to use each one.