Every online image tool I found had the same problem: I had to upload my photo to their server before I could do anything with it. And that always bothered me.
It's not that I don't trust TinyPNG or Compressor.io specifically. It's that I don't see why my images need to sit on someone else's server just so I can crop them or change the format. I shouldn't have to wonder whether a copy of my photo is still floating around somewhere after I close the tab.
A while back I was working on some product shots for a small project. Nothing sensitive really —just some photos of everyday items. But I needed to resize about 30 of them, and every resizer I tried required an upload.
One of them even had a note in their privacy policy that said they "may retain copies of uploaded images for up to 30 days." That was enough for me. I closed the tab and decided to build my own.
Turns out browsers can do a lot more than people think. The Canvas API —that built-in thing in every browser —handles compression, format conversion, resizing, cropping. Pretty much what you'd need. All on your machine. Nothing goes anywhere.
So I made a few tools. Then a few more. Then I put them online in case anyone else wanted them.
Server-based tools are fine for a lot of things. I use them too. My point is narrow: for basic image editing, uploading shouldn't be required. And right now, for most tools, it is.
If you have ideas for other tools or just want to tell me this is a stupid idea, drop me a message.