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Why ImageForge processes everything on-device
Privacy isn't a feature you bolt on at the end — it's an architecture decision. Here's why every byte stays on your Mac, and what we trade for it.
your Mac · no cloud
Most online image compressors work the same way: you upload your files to a server, it does the work, and you download the result. ImageForge doesn't do that. Every conversion runs locally on your Mac, and nothing ever leaves your machine. That's not a marketing line — it's the foundation the whole app is built on.
What on-device means here
The encoders — oxipng, zopfli, libwebp, the AVIF and JPEG XL libraries — ship inside the app and run on your CPU. There's no upload step, no account, no telemetry phoning home about what you compressed. Open the app on a plane with no Wi-Fi and it works exactly the same as on your desk.
Why it matters
Three reasons, in order of how much people care. Privacy: your screenshots, client work and personal photos are often sensitive, and the safest place for them is nowhere but your own disk. Speed: there's no round-trip to a server, so a batch finishes as fast as your CPU allows. No limits: no file-size caps, no "5 images per day," no queue — it's your hardware doing the work.
The most private way to handle a file is to never send it anywhere. On-device isn't a setting — it's the default and the only mode.
The trade-offs we accept
On-device isn't free. The app is larger because it bundles real encoders instead of a thin client, and very heavy AVIF effort settings are bound by your CPU rather than a server farm. We think that's the right trade: a few extra megabytes and your own compute, in exchange for files that are genuinely yours, every step of the way. No cloud, no tracking, no accounts.
Your images never leave your Mac.
Real encoders, running locally — no upload, no account, no tracking.
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