Month archive
Posts from September 2026
11 articles, newest first.
Product & Mission··11 min readThe Real Limits of a Browser-Based Image and Video Tool
Every ceiling in the product with the reason behind it: the device-aware decode cap, the video duration and file size caps, why destructive undo keeps fewer steps than the rest, and an honest statement of the jobs this is the wrong tool for.
Technical Deep Dives··8 min readEncode Once, Compare Three Video Formats on Your Own Footage
Every codec guide quotes an efficiency number averaged over a test set that is not your video. Motion, detail, cuts and flat areas all move the result. Encoding the same clip three ways settles it, provided you read the ratios rather than the raw sizes and compare the pictures rather than only the numbers.
Tutorials··11 min readChecking a Cutout You Did Not Make, Before You Build On It
Six checks for a transparent PNG that arrived from a freelancer, a supplier or an asset pack. The partially transparent pixel count is the one almost nobody reads, and it is what separates a usable cutout from a stencil.
Tutorials··7 min readFix a Sideways Video So Every Player Agrees
A clip plays upright everywhere except the one place that matters. Nothing is broken: two pieces of software disagreed about a rotation flag in the metadata. Baking the rotation into the pixels removes the disagreement entirely, and asks nothing of whatever software comes next.
Technical Deep Dives··11 min readWhere Colour Banding Comes From, and How to Stop It
Banding is worst when two colours are similar, not when they are far apart, and the arithmetic explains exactly why. How to tell whether the stripes are in your pixels or in your encode, and why adding noise on purpose is the professional fix.
Tutorials··10 min readYour Compressed Video Looks Fine Until Something Moves
Paused frames are the worst way to judge a compressed clip, because the failure only exists while the picture is changing. What a constant-quality setting really controls, how to read blocking and pumping, and why stabilising before compressing shrinks the file.
Tutorials··7 min readChange a Video Aspect Ratio Without Cropping Anything Out
There are exactly two ways to change an aspect ratio: throw pixels away or add space. Cropping 16:9 to 9:16 discards three quarters of the width, which is why so many auto-cropped verticals clip somebody's head. Letterbox and pillarbox padding keeps the frame, and the bars are an opportunity rather than a compromise.
Technical Deep Dives··10 min readYour Image Says 72 DPI, and That Number Cannot Hurt You
DPI is a note stored beside the pixels rather than a property of them, which is why one file reports three different numbers in three programs. What actually decides print quality, why typing 300 into a box changes nothing, and where the real ceiling sits.
Technical Deep Dives··8 min readMP4 or WebM: Converting Video in the Browser
Three targets, and each exists for a reason. Why conversion is re-encoding rather than repackaging, why you should never chain one conversion into another, and why a converter that carries its own encoder offers everyone the same menu.
Technical Deep Dives··10 min readWhy Red Text and Fine Edges Fall Apart in Video
Video keeps brightness at full resolution and discards three quarters of the colour samples. That is why saturated text smears, thin coloured lines dissolve, and a cutout edge picks up a halo the still image never had. No quality setting undoes it.