Filee

Filee is a free, open source file converter for Windows, with Mac and Linux versions in preview. Instead of opening an app or uploading files to a converter website, you hold a key (Ctrl on Windows, Option on a Mac), drag your files, and a ring of formats opens right where your cursor is. Drop the files on the format you want and the converted copies appear next to the originals. It was made by Korean developer Myeonggu Kim, known online as KnifeLemon, and released on GitHub at the end of September 2026. Within three weeks it had more than 7,000 stars and was the top C# project on GitHub's trending charts.

What it can do

• A ring of formats at your cursor. Hold a key and drag, and only the formats that make sense for those files appear. You can also use the right-click menu, a keyboard shortcut or the drop zone in the app.
• More than 240 formats. Photos (including iPhone HEIC, camera RAW and Photoshop PSD), PDFs, Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Korean HWP files, e-books, video, audio, subtitles, archives such as ZIP and RAR, fonts, CAD drawings and 3D models.
• No Office needed. Word, Excel and PowerPoint files convert to PDF and other formats without Microsoft Office or LibreOffice installed.
• PDF tools too. Merge, split, pick page ranges, compress PDFs, or turn pages into images.
• Lots of files at once. Drop a pile of files and they convert side by side. Filee works out multi-step routes for you, such as HWP to HWPX to DOCX.
• Watch folders. Point Filee at a folder and it converts every file that lands in it, for example turning every scan into a PDF.
• Presets you set once. Choose quality, size, PDF pages, video settings, the output folder and file names for each file type.
• Private and offline. Conversions run on your own computer and nothing is uploaded. It collects no usage data; it only goes online to check for updates and to download optional extras you choose.

Extra engines when you need them

About 136 formats work straight after installing. For the rest, Filee downloads a free, well-known engine only when you need it: FFmpeg for video and audio, LibreOffice for older document formats, calibre for e-books, Ghostscript for PostScript files and Pandoc for text formats. These are separate programs with their own licences, so you only install the ones you use.

Filee, File Converter or CloudConvert?

All three turn one kind of file into another. They differ in how you use them, how private they are and what they cost.

FileeThis page

Best forFast, private conversions by drag and drop

Drop files on a ring of formats at your cursor. More than 240 formats, offline, and Office files convert without Office. Brand new, and the Mac and Linux versions are previews.

How you use it

A desktop app, mainly for Windows

Open source

Yes (MIT)

Cost

Free

FFile Converter

Best forSimple right-click conversions on Windows

A long-standing Windows tool that adds a Convert option to the right-click menu. Reliable for images, audio, video and documents, but with fewer formats and no Mac version.

How you use it

The Windows right-click menu

Open source

Yes (GPL 3.0)

Cost

Free

CCloudConvert

Best forConverting the odd file from any device

A popular website that converts almost anything in your browser. Nothing to install, but your files are uploaded to its servers and the free plan has a daily limit.

How you use it

A website, or its API for developers

Open source

No

Cost

Free daily allowance; paid credits and plans

A quick way to choose: converting a file now and then on a phone or someone else's computer? CloudConvert does the job. Want a plain right-click menu on Windows? File Converter is a solid choice. Converting files regularly and want it private, fast and free? Try Filee.

How to get it

• Windows 10 or 11: download the Setup file from the latest release on GitHub (linked from filee.sh) and run it. Setup can add Filee to the right-click menu, start it with Windows and install the extra engines.
• Can't install programs? Use the portable ZIP instead and run Filee.exe.
• Mac and Linux: preview versions are on the same release page, with a short install script.
• For scripts and automation: the filee command runs the same conversions from the command line, so you or your AI coding assistant can convert files in bulk.

Good to know

• It's only a few weeks old and gets new releases every few days. It updates itself and keeps your settings.
• Windows releases aren't code-signed yet, so Windows may show a "Windows protected your PC" warning the first time. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". Only download it from filee.sh or its GitHub release page.
• On a Mac, the first start needs "Open Anyway" in System Settings, under Privacy & Security, because the app isn't notarised yet.
• On Linux, dragging with the format ring needs X11. On Wayland, use the drop zone or the right-click menu.
• The app is available in English, Spanish, Korean, Chinese, Polish and Hindi, with light and dark themes.
• Licence: MIT. Free to use, change and include in your own products, even ones you sell, as long as you keep the copyright notice. The optional engines it downloads, such as FFmpeg and Ghostscript, keep their own licences.