CHEPIO.TECHFile Forge
A desktop app for macOS, Windows and Linux that compresses PDFs and images and removes image backgrounds without uploading files. I designed and built it.
App screenshots from October 2026 with results the app produced for demo files; the window frame is drawn. The installer windows are real screenshots cropped to the window.
Overview
File Forge compresses PDFs and JPEG, PNG and WebP images, and cuts subjects out of photos, entirely on the user's computer. Presets range from lossless, which keeps every pixel, to a setting for on-screen reading; originals are never modified. It installs on macOS, Windows and Linux and updates itself from signature-verified releases. Format conversion, video and audio tools are planned.
The goal
Make documents and images noticeably smaller without damaging them, on three operating systems, while files never leave the user's computer.
What I built
I wrote the processing engines in Rust and the interface in React, packaged as a Tauri app. The PDF engine rewrites the file structure, trims unused font data and re-encodes images only when the chosen preset allows it. Background removal runs the SAM 2.1 model locally after a one-time download.
Delivered
- PDF compression with Lossless, Balanced, Maximum, Screen and custom presets
- Lossless and lossy compression of JPEG, PNG and WebP images
- Offline background removal with automatic or clicked subject selection
- Installers for macOS, Windows and Linux with signature-verified in-app updates
Desktop app
It installs and runs as a native app on:
- macOS: macOS 11 or later on Apple Silicon and Intel Macs, as a .dmg disk image
- Windows: 64-bit Windows 10 or later, as an .exe installer or .msi package
- Linux: 64-bit Linux as an AppImage, a .deb package for Debian and Ubuntu or an .rpm package for Fedora and openSUSE
Have a project in mind?
Tell me what you want to build. We can discuss the scope and the next steps.
