Privacy & how your files are handled
Last updated: June 2026
Short version
All three tools — Merge, Compress, and JPG to PDF — process your files entirely in your browser. No file data is ever transmitted to PDFMelt's servers. You can verify this in your browser's DevTools Network tab.
How files are processed
When you use Merge, Compress, or JPG to PDF, the file is read by JavaScript running in your browser tab, processed locally using WebAssembly libraries (pdf-lib and pdfjs-dist), and the result is handed back to you as a download. The file never leaves your device. This applies unconditionally to all three tools — there is no "server fallback" path that uploads your file in any scenario.
An honest disclosure about Compress
Compression may flatten text into images on some files. To meaningfully shrink image-heavy PDFs, pages get rasterised — once that happens, text in the compressed file can no longer be selected, searched, or copied. This is a tradeoff of browser-based compression, not a server-side step. We show this warning on the Compress tool itself before you press the button.
What we actually collect
Standard web server logs (IP address, user agent, requested URL) for security and operations. No file contents, no file names, no file metadata. If we add anonymous analytics in the future, we'll show a consent banner first — and the consent UI is wired to the analytics code itself, so it can never be silently bypassed.
Cookies
We do not set marketing or tracking cookies. The site uses localStorage for your theme preference (light/dark). If analytics are enabled in the future and you consent, the analytics provider may set its own cookies.
Third parties
The site is hosted on Vercel, which sees standard HTTP request metadata (not file contents). Self-hosted Inter fonts. No advertising networks, no social trackers, no third-party scripts on tool pages.
Payment processing
Payment processing for Supporter subscriptions is handled by Stripe. Your email and subscription status are stored in our database to manage your subscription. PDF files you process using our tools are never involved in payment processing and are never stored on our servers.
Questions
Email: hello@pdfmelt.app