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freecompressconvert
reads the bytes, not the name

What is this file?

Drop anything. You get what it actually is, judged by its contents rather than its extension, and everything it is quietly carrying: location, dates, the software that made it, the paths inside it.

Drop any file

· any type, any size

Only the first part of a large file is read, so even a huge one is instant.

Nothing inspected yet.

Quick answer

The name is a label. The bytes are the fact.

// Answer

Every format begins with a recognisable signature: a PNG starts with the bytes 89 50 4E 47, a PDF with %PDF-, a ZIP with PK. Applications read those, not the extension. This page reads them too, and then reports the metadata the format carries, which is usually more than people expect.

What it can tell you

By type

TypeWhat comes back
PhotosDimensions, GPS coordinates, the moment it was taken, the camera and lens, the editing software, copyright fields
PDFsVersion, roughly how many pages, title and author, the producing software, whether it is encrypted, whether it contains JavaScript or a form
ZIPs and Office filesEvery path inside, without extracting. Office documents are ZIPs, so a .docx is identified by what is in it
Text, CSV, JSONByte order mark, and whether line endings are Windows, Unix or an unhappy mixture
AnythingReal type against claimed type, size, and when it was last changed
Where it earns its place

Four times this is the tool you want

  • A site says "unsupported file type" about a file with the right extension. Sometimes the file is not what its name says. More on that error.
  • Before you send a photo to a stranger. Check what is in it, then strip it.
  • An attachment you were not expecting. It will not tell you a file is safe, but a PDF that contains an automatic action, or a document that is really an archive, is worth knowing about before you open it.
  • A file you cannot open. Find out what it really is, then pick the tool: HEIC, PNG, PDF, or something else entirely.
Limits

What it is not

It is not a virus scanner. It reads structure and metadata; it does not analyse behaviour, and it has no database of known threats. A file can be exactly what it claims and still be hostile.

Page counts on a PDF are approximate. They are counted by pattern rather than by fully parsing the document, which is fast and occasionally off by one on unusual files. Where an exact answer matters, the splitter parses properly.

Some formats hold almost nothing worth reporting, and the output for those is short.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

An extension is part of the file name, and a name is just a label anyone can change. The type is decided by the bytes at the start of the file, which is what an application actually reads. Renaming a PNG to photo.jpg changes nothing inside it.
Usually not. The most common cause is a phone or an app saving one format under another name, or a download that was renamed. It is worth a second look when the mismatch is large, for example something named as a document that is really an executable or an archive.
Your camera recorded where you were standing, to within a few metres, inside the file. Anyone who receives the file can read it. If that is not what you want, the remover strips it.
No. It can tell you a file is not what it says it is, and that a PDF contains JavaScript or an automatic action, which are both worth knowing. It is not a virus scanner and cannot replace one.
A ZIP stores the name of every file it contains in plain text, alongside the compressed data. Reading the list needs no decompression at all. It is often revealing: archive paths can include the username of whoever made them.
No. Everything is read in this tab, on your own machine. That matters more here than anywhere else on the site: sending a file you do not trust to an unknown server in order to identify it is the opposite of careful.

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