HermitFile is a set of file tools that run entirely inside your browser. Resize an image, merge a PDF, trim a video, convert a HEIC photo — the work happens on your own device, using your own device's processing power, and the file never travels anywhere. There is no upload step because there is no server on the other end waiting for one.
Why it works this way
Most free conversion sites work by uploading your file to a server, doing the work there, and sending a result back. That is simple to build and it is also the reason those sites need you to wait in a queue, need a file-size cap, and need a privacy policy explaining what happens to a copy of your document that briefly existed on somebody else's computer.
Browsers have gotten good enough that none of that is necessary for most everyday conversions anymore. A modern browser can decode an image, re-encode a video, or parse a PDF as capably as a small server can — it is just usually asked to. HermitFile asks it to. The trade-off is real and worth naming: very large files or unusual formats can be slower on a phone than they would be on a beefy server, and a small number of tools that genuinely need a server — the licence check after a Pro purchase, for instance — are built to send the smallest possible request rather than the file itself. Both of those trade-offs are described in detail on the privacy page, which is the more precise document if you want the specifics rather than the summary.
What's actually here
The site covers image tools (resize to an exact KB and pixel size, crop, convert format, compress, strip EXIF data, check whether a passport or visa photo will be accepted), video tools (convert, trim, split, mute, compress, remove background noise, auto-reframe, add captions), and PDF tools (merge, split, compress, unlock, redact, rotate, convert to and from images or text, pull a bank statement into a spreadsheet). Several of the more commonly requested tools are also available in Spanish, Thai, Vietnamese and Indonesian, translated in full rather than run through a machine translator and left unedited.
Every tool is free, one file at a time, at any size, forever — no monthly count, no account. HermitFile Pro takes a whole batch or folder in one pass, for $39 a year or $7 a month, and can be cancelled at any time; the terms page has the refund policy in full.
Who runs it
HermitFile is built and operated by an individual in Pennsylvania, United States — not a company with a support team, a marketing department, or a roadmap committee. That has an upside and a downside. The upside is that a bug report or a "this format doesn't work" email goes to someone who can actually fix it, usually the same day. The downside is that this is one person's project, run alongside other work, so it grows one tool at a time rather than all at once.
The site is hosted on Cloudflare and funded by the Pro subscription described above, along with advertising run to bring people to the site who are looking for exactly these tools. None of that changes what happens to your files — that part is enforced by the browser itself, not promised by us, and the privacy page explains exactly how to verify it yourself.
Get in touch
For a bug, a format that doesn't convert cleanly, a tool you wish existed, or anything else, email hello@hermitfile.com. Real emails get real answers.