About TurboConvert
A free file converter built on one simple idea — your files should never have to leave your device.
Updated October 9, 2026
Why we built it
Converting a PDF or a photo should not mean handing a copy of it to a stranger’s server. Yet that is how most online converters work: you upload your file, it is processed remotely, and you are asked to trust that it gets deleted.
TurboConvert is an independent project built in France that does the opposite. When you open a tool, the conversion software is downloaded to your browser and runs on your own computer or phone. Your files are read locally, converted locally and saved locally. There is no upload step at all — which is also why conversions start instantly.
How it works
Modern browsers can run compiled code at near-native speed thanks to WebAssembly. We use that to run proven, open-source engines directly in the page:
- Ghostscript compresses PDFs — the same engine behind many professional PDF tools.
- FFmpeg (via ffmpeg.wasm) converts, compresses and trims audio and video.
- PDF.js (Mozilla) renders and reads PDF pages; pdf-lib and qpdf edit, merge, split and protect them.
- libheif decodes iPhone HEIC photos; Tesseract recognises text in scanned documents (OCR).
- docx, mammoth, docx-preview, ExcelJS, jsPDF and PptxGenJS read and write Office documents.
Some of these engines are large (FFmpeg is about 31 MB), so the first use of a video or OCR tool takes a little longer. Your browser then keeps the engine in its cache.
You can check it yourself
Open your browser’s developer tools (F12 on Windows, ⌥⌘I on Mac), select the Network tab and run a conversion. You will see the page and engine files being loaded, but never your file being sent. You can even disconnect from the internet after the page has loaded and keep converting.
How TurboConvert is funded
The tools are free, with no account, no daily limit and no watermark. The site is funded by advertising (displayed only with the consent required by law) and may include clearly labelled recommendations of other products. We never sell data, and since we never receive your files, there is nothing about them to sell.
Honest about limits
Running everything on your device has trade-offs. Very large files depend on your device’s memory, and some conversions (for example complex Word layouts or scanned PDFs) can’t always be perfect. Each tool page has a Good to know section that lists its real limitations. If something doesn’t work as described, tell us — we read every message.
Open-source software
TurboConvert is built on the work of many open-source projects. We use them unmodified, under their respective licenses:
| Project | License | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Ghostscript (WebAssembly build by @jspawn) | AGPL-3.0 | github.com/jspawn/ghostscript-wasm · ghostscript.com |
| FFmpeg / ffmpeg.wasm | LGPL/GPL · MIT | ffmpeg.org · github.com/ffmpegwasm/ffmpeg.wasm |
| PDF.js | Apache-2.0 | github.com/mozilla/pdf.js |
| pdf-lib | MIT | github.com/Hopding/pdf-lib |
| qpdf (qpdf-wasm) | Apache-2.0 · ISC | github.com/qpdf/qpdf |
| libheif (libheif-js) | LGPL-3.0 | github.com/strukturag/libheif |
| Tesseract.js | Apache-2.0 | github.com/naptha/tesseract.js |
| docx · mammoth · docx-preview | MIT · BSD-2 · Apache-2.0 | docx · mammoth · docx-preview |
| ExcelJS · jsPDF · PptxGenJS · JSZip · fflate · UTIF | MIT | exceljs · jsPDF · PptxGenJS · JSZip · fflate · UTIF |
| Geist font | SIL OFL 1.1 | github.com/vercel/geist-font |
Contact
Questions, bug reports, partnership or press: hello@turboconvert.io. Privacy requests: privacy@turboconvert.io.