Privacy Policy

FileCrucible is a file conversion service. This policy explains exactly what happens to the files you upload, what data is collected while you browse, and what control you have over both. It was last updated on 29 July 2026.

1. Who is responsible for your data

FileCrucible ("we", "us") operates this website and is the data controller for the personal data described below. You can reach us at [email protected] for any privacy question, request, or complaint.

2. Files you upload

This is the part most visitors care about, so it comes first.

• Why we hold them. A file has to be written to our server so a conversion tool can read it and produce the output you asked for. There is no other purpose.
• How long. Uploaded files and converted results are deleted automatically within 24 hours. You can delete a job yourself immediately after downloading it, and we encourage that.
• Who can see them. Each visit is given an isolated anonymous session. Files belonging to one session are not reachable from another. Access is limited to the automated conversion process.
• What we do not do. We do not read, inspect, index, analyse, profile, or train anything on the contents of your files. We do not sell them, share them with advertisers, or transfer them to third parties.
• Metadata. We do not strip metadata from your files. If a photo contains GPS coordinates or a document contains an author name, that information stays in the converted output. Consider this before sharing converted files publicly.

Please do not upload highly sensitive material — medical records, government identity documents, credentials, or anything whose exposure would seriously harm you or someone else. This is a free service running on modest infrastructure, and while we take reasonable care, no free web service is an appropriate custodian for that category of data.

3. Technical data collected automatically

Our server keeps standard request logs, which contain your IP address, the time of the request, the page or endpoint requested, your browser's user-agent string, and the response status. These logs exist to keep the service running and to detect abuse — rate-limit violations, automated scraping, and attempts to overload the converter. They are retained for a short period and then discarded.

The legal basis for this processing is our legitimate interest in operating a secure, available service (Article 6(1)(f) GDPR).

4. Cookies and similar technologies

We use two distinct categories, and we treat them very differently.

Strictly necessary

A session cookie identifies your anonymous conversion session so that the file you uploaded is the file you get back. Without it the service cannot function, so it is set without asking, and it carries no advertising or tracking purpose. A second small record stores your cookie preferences so we do not have to ask again on every page.

Advertising

FileCrucible is funded by advertising, which is what keeps it free and without upload quotas. Advertising cookies are only set after you consent, and never before.

See our Cookie Policy for the full detail, including how to change your mind at any time.

5. Advertising and Google AdSense

We use Google AdSense to display advertisements. You should know the following:

• Third-party vendors, including Google, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this and other websites.
• Google's use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visits to our site and other sites on the internet.
• You may opt out of personalised advertising by visiting Google Ads Settings.
• You can opt out of a third-party vendor's use of cookies for personalised advertising at aboutads.info or the NAI opt-out page.
• Information about how Google handles data in its advertising products is set out in Google's Privacy & Terms.

If you decline advertising consent, we do not load the advertising scripts at all. The site remains fully functional; you simply see no ads.

6. What we deliberately do not do

• No user accounts, so no names, no passwords, no email addresses.
• No newsletter, and no marketing email of any kind.
• No payment processing, so no card or billing data ever reaches us.
• No sale or rental of personal information to anyone, for any purpose.
• No behavioural analytics or session recording of your activity on the site.

7. International transfers

Our advertising partner Google operates globally and may process data outside your country, including in the United States, under the safeguards described in its own privacy documentation. Files you upload are processed on our own server and are not transferred abroad for conversion.

8. Your rights

If you are in the EEA or the UK, the GDPR gives you the right to access your personal data, to have it corrected or erased, to restrict or object to its processing, to data portability, and to withdraw consent at any time. You also have the right to complain to your national data protection authority.

If you are a California resident, the CCPA/CPRA gives you the right to know what personal information is collected, to have it deleted, to correct it, and to opt out of its sale or sharing. We do not sell or share personal information as those terms are defined, so there is no opt-out to exercise — but the right to know and to delete still applies.

To exercise any of these, email [email protected]. Because we do not operate accounts, we hold very little that is linkable to you as an individual: in most cases the honest answer to an access request is a short server-log extract, if it still exists at all. Uploaded files will normally already have been deleted by the automatic 24-hour purge.

To withdraw advertising consent, use the Cookie settings link in the footer. It takes effect immediately.

9. Children

This service is not directed at children under 13 (or under 16 in jurisdictions where that is the relevant threshold), and we do not knowingly collect their personal data. If you believe a child has provided us personal data, contact us and we will delete it.

10. Security

Traffic is served over HTTPS. Conversion sessions are isolated from one another and results are purged automatically. That said, no internet service can promise perfect security, and the 24-hour deletion window is a far stronger protection than any access control — the best safeguard for your data is that it does not stay here.

11. Changes to this policy

If we change how data is handled, we will update this page and the date at the top. Material changes affecting advertising consent will re-prompt you for a fresh choice rather than silently relying on your previous one.