Every week I'd find myself doing the same thing. Googling "compress PDF Every week I'd find myself doing the same thing. Googling "compress PDF online free", clicking the first result, uploading my file to some website I'd never heard of, and hoping for the best.
One day I actually read the privacy policy of one of these tools.
"Files retained for 24 hours. Processed on our servers. May be used to improve our services."
That was enough for me.
The browser is more powerful than most people think
WebAssembly changed everything. It lets you run near-native code directly in a browser tab, no server needed.
FFmpeg, the same tool professionals use for video processing? Runs client-side. PDF manipulation? Client-side. Cryptographically secure password generation? The browser has had a native API for that for years.
So I started building.
54 tools later
What began as a simple video compressor turned into something much bigger. Every time I needed an online tool, I asked myself one question: could this run in the browser?
Almost always, the answer was yes.
The result: PureTools — 54 free utilities covering video, audio, PDF, images, passwords, finance calculators and developer tools.
- Zero uploads
- Zero watermarks
- Zero signup
- Works offline after the first visit
The stack
Embarrassingly simple. Pure HTML, CSS and vanilla JavaScript. No frameworks.
- FFmpeg.wasm for video and audio processing
- pdf-lib for PDF merge, split, compress and protect
- Web Crypto API for password generation
- Service Worker to cache everything offline
The hardest part
It wasn't the code. It was resisting the urge to add a backend "just for analytics" or "just for user accounts".
Every time I considered adding something server-side, I realized I was becoming the thing I was trying to replace.
The constraint became the product.
If you're tired of uploading your files to random websites, give it a try.
Your files never leave your device. That's the whole point.
If you're tired of uploading your files to random websites, give it a try: puretools.io
Everything runs in your browser. Your files never leave your device.
That's the whole point.
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