About ClipHeron
Free video tools that do their work in your browser, tell you exactly what they are doing, and never see your files.
Why it exists
Making a video smaller, cutting a piece out of it, turning it into a GIF or getting the sound out are small jobs. Online, they have become strangely large ones: upload a gigabyte to someone’s server, wait in a queue, accept a watermark or a 720p ceiling, and trust a retention policy you cannot check. The processing itself takes seconds; the uploading, waiting and worrying take the time.
ClipHeron removes the upload. The browser downloads the tools once, and from then on the work happens on your own computer or phone, using your device’s video hardware where the browser allows and an open-source engine where it does not. There is no cap, no queue, no account and no watermark, because there is no server to pay for or protect.
The name comes from the grey heron: tall, precise, patient. It stands still in the shallows, watches, and strikes once, cleanly. That is the manner we want from a tool: do one exact thing, say what you did, and get out of the way.
Who runs it
ClipHeron is operated by Infinity Square Labs Ltd, a company registered in England and Wales (company number 16880965), with its registered office at 483 Green Lanes, London, N13 4BS, United Kingdom. We are a small independent studio that builds free, privacy-first web tools; our sister site PixWrench does the same for photos. We are not affiliated with any messaging platform, camera maker or codec vendor.
How it is funded
Pages carry a small number of clearly labelled ads, which never appear inside the tool panel, next to the drop zone, the progress bar or the download button, or on legal pages. Ads do not refresh while a job runs; we would rather you leave the tab open for a three-minute encode than reload it for a new impression. That keeps every tool free with no file cap and no paywall. We do not take affiliate payments for video software, and the tools recommend nothing.
How we keep the tools honest
- Nothing is uploaded, and you can check. The how it works page has an offline test and a network-log test; our own release tests do the same on every tool with a reference set of videos.
- Predictions before encoding, measurements after. The compressor shows the arithmetic before it starts and the real size when it finishes, and says so if it missed.
- Snaps and losses are stated in words. A trim that moved to a keyframe says how far; a conversion that re-encodes says why; an HDR clip that became standard colour gets a notice.
- Formats we cannot handle are refused by name. An AVI gets “AVI files aren’t supported yet”, a WMV gets “this is a WMV/ASF file”, not a spinner.
- Visible changes. Anything that changes a limit, a preset or a path is dated in the changelog, and the open-source engine is credited on the licences page.
Mistakes are still possible. If a tool does something it should not, email errors@clipheron.com with the tool, your browser and the error code; never the video.
Get in touch
Questions, suggestions and corrections are welcome on the contact page.