FileConverter Review: A Format Conversion Tool Hidden in Your Right-Click Menu

I’ve tried plenty of format conversion tools on Windows — from Format Factory to various online converters. Either they’re ad-infested or they require uploading files to the cloud, which I’m not comfortable with. Recently I found FileConverter on GitHub — 14.2k stars, written in C#, and the killer feature is direct integration into the Windows right-click context menu. Two weeks in, it’s pretty solid.

How it actually works

FileConverter’s core logic is dead simple: after installation, right-click any file and you’ll see a “File Converter” option. Hover over it and conversion target formats appear. Click one and it starts converting. No main interface to open. The whole thing happens inside File Explorer.

Supported formats cover a wide range:

• Images: PNG, JPG, WEBP, GIF, BMP, TIFF, ICO, SVG (partial)
• Video: MP4, WEBM, AVI, MKV, MOV, WMV
• Audio: MP3, WAV, FLAC, AAC, OGG, M4A
• Documents: PDF (image to PDF conversion)

Under the hood it uses FFmpeg for audio/video and ImageMagick for images — both industry standards, so output quality is reliable.

Scenarios I use it for

Scenario 1: Batch screenshot format conversion I use Snipaste for screenshots, which outputs PNG by default. But when writing blog posts I often need JPG or WEBP to reduce file size. Previously I’d open Photoshop or an online tool to convert one by one. Now I select all screenshots, right-click → File Converter → Convert to WEBP, done in seconds. Can also adjust compression quality on the fly.

Scenario 2: Video compression for WeChat WeChat has file size limits for videos, and screen recordings or camera exports often exceed them. FileConverter can directly compress via the right-click menu with “Compress to MP4” and several compression presets. I usually use “Medium” — 1080p videos compress to 20-30% of original size with barely noticeable quality loss.

Scenario 3: Images to PDF bundling Sometimes I need to bundle several invoice or contract scans into a single PDF. Select all images, right-click → File Converter → Convert to PDF, and it generates a multi-page PDF in the order files appear in Explorer. Way faster than opening dedicated PDF tools.

Quick start

# Download MSI installer from GitHub Releases
# https://github.com/Tichau/FileConverter/releases

# Install, then right-click any file to see File Converter menu

# Custom conversion presets (advanced)
# Open Settings → Add custom presets
# Adjust resolution, compression rate, encoder settings, etc.

The settings interface is buried a bit deep. Right-click any file → File Converter → Configure presets to open the settings window. You can add custom presets like “convert to 800px wide WEBP” or “compress to 720p H.265 MP4.”

The good and the bad

What I loved:

• Right-click integration is the core experience. No software to open, just convert — this design is incredibly smooth
• Completely free and open-source, no ads, no popups
• Conversion quality backed by FFmpeg and ImageMagick, trustworthy
• Batch conversion support — select as many files as you want
• Preset system is flexible, common operations become one-click
• Tiny footprint, installer is just a few MB

What frustrated me:

• Windows only. Mac and Linux users are out of luck
• Document-to-PDF only supports image-based documents, not Word or Excel
• Custom preset configuration UI is a bit rough, parameter descriptions lacking
• Converting large files (multi-GB videos) makes the right-click menu freeze, which feels bad
• Update frequency is slow, last release was months ago

Compared to alternatives

Tool	Strengths	Best for
FileConverter	Right-click integration, lightweight, free	Windows users, daily format conversion
Format Factory	Full-featured, GUI-based, Chinese-made	Users needing complex parameter tuning
HandBrake	Professional video encoding, rich parameters	Heavy video users
ImageMagick CLI	Command-line, scriptable	Developers, batch automation

For occasional format conversion or image compression, FileConverter has the best experience — right-click and done, zero learning curve. If you need granular control over every encoding parameter, HandBrake or command-line tools are the way to go.

Bottom line

FileConverter is one of those “small but beautiful” tools. 14.2k stars shows people appreciate the design philosophy. It won’t replace professional encoding software, but for 90% of daily format conversion needs, a right-click solves it. That’s enough.

If you’re on Windows and frequently convert image formats, compress videos, or bundle images into PDFs, this is a must-install. Free, open-source, no ads — what more do you want.

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About the Author

Liudingyu is a full-stack developer and heavy GitHub user. With 900+ starred repos over the past 3 years, this site only covers tools I’ve actually used or deeply researched.

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