Guides

Answers to common questions about files, with honest comparisons of free desktop programs, command-line tools and FileReshape's browser tools.

• How to open a shapefile without ArcGIS
  Open a shapefile in QGIS, on the command line with ogrinfo and ogr2ogr, or in your browser with a free viewer. Works on Windows, Mac and Linux.
• How to convert KML to shapefile: QGIS, ogr2ogr or online
  Convert KML from Google Earth to a shapefile with QGIS, the ogr2ogr command or a browser converter, and avoid mixed geometries and cut field names.
• How to merge PDF files without uploading them
  Four ways to combine PDF files on your own computer, with no upload to a server - macOS Preview, Adobe Acrobat, qpdf or pdfunite, and a browser tool.
• How to convert HEIC photos to JPG (iPhone, Mac, Windows, online)
  Turn iPhone HEIC photos into JPG - change the iPhone camera setting, export from Preview or Photos on a Mac, open them on Windows, or convert in a browser.
• How to reduce PDF file size
  Make a PDF smaller with Preview, Ghostscript, qpdf, Adobe Acrobat or a browser tool, and learn why some PDFs shrink a lot and others barely at all.
• How to convert PDF to JPG
  Turn PDF pages into JPG images with Preview on a Mac, pdftoppm or ImageMagick on the command line, or a browser tool on Windows and anywhere else.
• How to split a PDF into separate files or pages
  Split a PDF into single pages or page ranges with Preview on a Mac, qpdf or pdfseparate on the command line, Adobe Acrobat, or a browser tool.
• How to open HEIC files on Windows 10 and 11
  Open iPhone HEIC photos on a Windows PC with Microsoft's HEIF extension, iCloud or cable transfer settings, free apps such as GIMP, or a browser converter.
• How to save a WebP image as PNG or JPG
  Saved a picture and got a .webp file? Turn it into PNG or JPG with Paint, Preview on a Mac, dwebp or ImageMagick, or in your browser without uploading.
• How to remove the location and EXIF data from photos
  Remove GPS location and EXIF data from photos on iPhone, Android, Windows and Mac, with exiftool, or in your browser without uploading the pictures.
• How to convert JPG to PDF on Windows, Mac and iPhone
  Turn one or many JPG images into a PDF with Microsoft Print to PDF, macOS Preview, the iPhone share sheet, img2pdf or a browser tool.
• How to reduce image file size without losing quality
  Make photos and screenshots smaller by changing pixel size, format and quality, with Windows Photos, Paint, macOS Preview, ImageMagick or a browser tool.
• What is a shapefile and which files does it need?
  The shapefile explained - the required .shp, .shx and .dbf parts, optional files, geometry types, field and size limits, encoding, CRS and alternatives.