How to compress a video or PDF without uploading it
Quick answer
Drop the file on the FileSnatch panel (or click Convert), choose Compress, and save. Videos fit the size you pick, PDFs and pictures get much lighter, and the file never leaves your computer.
The problem
WhatsApp and email reject big files, and online compressors make you upload private videos and documents to someone else's server, then wait, then download again, often with a watermark or a page limit.
How FileSnatch helps
- Everything runs on your computer, in the browser: nothing is uploaded, ever.
- Videos: pick a target (10, 16, 25 or 50 MB) and FileSnatch fits the video to it.
- PDFs: pages are redrawn lighter; a scanned PDF often shrinks to a fraction of its size.
- Pictures and audio compress too, and if a file is already small, it's kept as it was.
- The same converter turns video into MP3 or GIF, pictures into one PDF, and a PDF into pictures.
Step by step
- Open the converter
Drop the file on the FileSnatch panel, or click Convert and choose it.
- Choose Compress
For a video, pick the size you need.
- Convert
Progress shows in the Downloads tab.
- Send it
The smaller file is in Downloads/FileSnatch/Converted.
Good to know
- 16 MB is a safe size for WhatsApp; many email services allow around 25 MB.
- A compressed PDF turns pages into pictures, so its text can't be selected afterwards: ideal for scans.
Questions
Is my file uploaded anywhere?
No. Compressing happens entirely on your computer.
Will it reduce quality?
A little, as any compression does. Pick the largest size your app allows for the best result.
What else FileSnatch does
Grabs as you browseEvery video, photo, sound and document a page shows is caught for you, even hidden and streamed ones.
Bulk downloadDownload all at once, as one ZIP, or many PDFs joined into one, numbered in order.
Save part of a videoTrim a section, keep just the sound, or stop a long download and keep what's done.
Look insideCollect the files behind every page a list links to, or only the pages about a word.
Telegram downloadsWhole channels in full quality, only what's new since last time, or just the last week.
Every tab at onceAdd your other open tabs: their files join one list, a section per tab.
Try it in ChromeFree, no account. Everything runs in your browser.
Add FileSnatch to Chrome
More guides
ConvertSave the audio of a video as MP3Keep only the sound of a video, a song, a talk or a podcast, as MP3, straight from the page or from a file. Free, and nothing is uploaded.1 min read →
VideosDownload only part of a videoSave just the part of a video you need: a clip, the sound, a GIF, or what's already downloaded of a long video. No video editor needed.2 min read →
BulkDownload all PDFs from a websiteCollect every PDF, MP3 or video behind a page's links (lessons, reports, episodes) in one go, named after their pages. Look inside does it for you.3 min read →