KnifeLemon/Filee

A free, open-source file converter for Windows that you use by dragging.
Hold a key (Ctrl by default), drag files and drop them on a format in the donut that opens right at your cursor.

Website · Download · Install · Command line · Docs

English · 한국어 · 简体中文

_{Watch the 27-second video and try the interactive demo on filee.sh}

Download the latest Filee-<version>-win-Setup.exe from Releases (Windows 10/11, 64-bit) and run it. Setup asks for administrator rights once and installs Filee for all users in Program Files. Prefer no installer? Unzip Filee-<version>-win-Portable.zip anywhere and run Filee.exe.

• Everything common is in the installer. Images, PDF, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, HWP, e-books, archives, fonts and CAD work right away.
• Choose in Setup. Add “Convert with Filee” to the File Explorer menu (on Windows 11 also at the top of the menu, not only under “Show more options”), start Filee when you sign in, and pick optional engines: video and audio (FFmpeg, ~100 MB) and rare formats (LibreOffice, calibre, Ghostscript, Pandoc), each with its size. Filee downloads the chosen engines when Setup starts it; install or remove them any time in Settings → Engines, which shows download speed and time left.
• Updates install themselves. When a new release is out, Filee says so at the bottom of the menu, in a notice and in the tray menu. Press Update and Filee downloads the new installer, checks it against the release's SHA-256 file and runs it after one administrator prompt. Setup closes Filee, updates it, keeps your settings and engines, and starts it again. The portable copy opens the release page instead. Filee 1.1 and earlier (installed per user) are taken over by the new installer too.

macOS support is planned, and Linux is being considered.

• Donut toolbar at the cursor. Hold a modifier key (Ctrl by default) and drag files. Everything is configurable: any modifier combination, mouse button, drag distance, a hold gesture or a keyboard shortcut for the selected files.
• One toolbar per file type. Images, PDF, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, HWP, text, e-books, video, audio, vector graphics, archives, CAD and fonts, plus toolbars for mixed selections. Arrange presets on a live donut (it opens a gap where a dragged preset will land) by drag & drop, add extensions as tags, right-click or ✎ to edit a preset.
• Presets. Quality, resizing, DPI, metadata, PDF merge and split, page ranges, video quality and resolution, audio bitrate, archive compression, output folder, file name pattern, conflict handling and keeping the original file dates (one preset at a time, or for every conversion in Settings → General). TIFF presets can put every file into one multi-page TIFF (one page per image or PDF page). Converted files go next to the original by default. Settings → General sets another default save location (a subfolder or one fixed folder) for every preset that has no location of its own.
• Batch conversion. 1 file or 100, converted in parallel; one failure never stops the rest. "One ZIP" packs any files into a single archive, "Merge PDF" makes one PDF.
• Planned routes. Multi-step conversions are found automatically (e.g. HWP → HWPX → DOCX, EPUB → HWPX → PDF → PNG), each step with the engine that does it best.
• Four ways in. The drag gesture, Explorer's right-click menu (on Windows 11 also in the main menu) and Send To, a keyboard shortcut on the Explorer selection, and the drop zone in the main window.
• Watch folders. Files that land in a folder you choose are converted automatically while Filee runs, once downloads and copies are complete. Keep the originals or move them aside so the folder works like an inbox.
• Command line. filee convert *.heic --to jpg, filee watch D:\Inbox --to pdf, with your presets, JSON output for scripts and exit codes. Setup can put the filee command on PATH.
• Engines you can see. Settings → Engines lists every engine with its version and what it converts; optional engines download with speed and time left. FFmpeg, calibre, Pandoc, Ghostscript or LibreOffice already on your PC (on the PATH, Scoop included, or in Program Files) are found and used instead of a download, with a note when one is older than the version Filee is tested with. "Use my copy…" picks a specific one.
• Soft, animated UI. Light, dark or system theme, your accent colour, adjustable roundness and a Reduce animations switch for older PCs.
• English, 한국어, 简体中文, following your Windows language by default.

Everything without a mark works out of the box: no Microsoft Office, Hancom Office or LibreOffice needed, and Filee doesn't use Microsoft Office or Hancom Office even when they are installed. The optional engines below are downloaded only if your PC doesn't already have them. Optional engines Filee offers to download: ¹ Ghostscript, ² LibreOffice, ³ Pandoc, ⁴ calibre, ⁵ FFmpeg. Details, including what each engine keeps and leaves out: docs/ENGINES.md.

The filee command converts files and watches folders without opening the app, with the same engines and presets. Tick Add the "filee" command to PATH in Setup, then open a new terminal.

filee convert photo.heic --to jpg
filee convert *.png --to webp --quality 80 -o converted
filee convert D:\Scans --recursive --preset to-pdf --json
filee watch D:\Inbox --to pdf --move-originals
filee formats heic
filee presets

--json prints the result for scripts and other programs. Exit codes: 0 all converted, 1 some files failed, 2 wrong arguments or a missing input, 3 nothing to convert. Every option is in the command line guide and in filee help.

Arrange the donut by drag & drop, one profile per file type	Home: drop zone and recent conversions
Presets: quality, size, PDF pages, output folder and file names	Dark theme

Requirements: .NET 10 SDK, Windows 10/11.

git clone https://github.com/KnifeLemon/Filee.git
cd Filee
pwsh build/fetch-fonts.ps1                       # optional: Noto Sans UI fonts
pwsh build/fetch-engines.ps1 -Only rhwp,pandoc   # optional engines for development (all: omit -Only, ~475 MB)
dotnet run --project src/Filee.App
dotnet test

Settings live in %APPDATA%\Filee. Builds from source never touch the Explorer context menu or auto-start. pwsh build/build-installer.ps1 publishes Filee and builds the installer into Releases/ (it downloads a pinned, portable Inno Setup into build/.cache; nothing is installed).

Pull requests are welcome. Good first steps are adding a converter and adding a language. If Filee saves you some clicks, a ⭐ helps other people find it.

Free code signing provided by SignPath.io, certificate by SignPath Foundation.

Filee has applied for this program. Until it is approved, releases are not code-signed and Windows SmartScreen may warn when you run the installer ("More info" → "Run anyway").

• Committers and reviewers: KnifeLemon
• Approvers: KnifeLemon

Only the installer and files built by this repository's GitHub Actions release workflow are signed, and every release is approved by hand. Bundled third-party programs (rhwp, 7-Zip) keep their own publishers' files.

Filee converts files on your own computer and never uploads them. It collects no usage data and sends no telemetry. It connects to the internet only:

• to ask GitHub (api.github.com) whether a newer release exists, shortly after start and then every few hours. Turn this off in Settings → General ("Check for updates").
• to download the conversion engines you choose to install, from the official locations pinned in engines.json.
• when you click a link, which opens your web browser.

MIT. Bundled third-party components keep their own licenses: see THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.md.