Privacy · 28 August 2026
Client-side video editing: what stays in the tab
How FramePad processes video in Canvas 2D and WebAssembly, what leaves the machine (analytics page views, not media), and how that differs from cloud converters.
By the FramePad editorial desk · 9 min read · Updated 2026-08-28
Object URLs, not HTTP POST
When you drop a file on FramePad, the browser creates an object URL (a blob: address) and hands that URL to a video or image element. Decode happens in the media pipeline the browser already uses for local playback. Draw happens in Canvas 2D. Export writes a new blob and triggers a download. None of those steps require a server that receives the file. Closing the tab revokes the URL. That is what “no upload required” means here.
Cloud converters work the other way. The file is posted to a machine you do not control, queued, transcoded, stored for some retention window, and sometimes used to train a model. That is convenient for long GOTs and for accounts that need a render farm. It is the wrong architecture for unreleased product, unpaid talent, or a draft that should not exist as a copy in someone else’s bucket.
What does leave the machine
Honesty matters more than a slogan. FramePad loads Google Fonts. Optional H.264 export may load an FFmpeg WASM core from a public CDN; that request does not include your media. A Google Analytics tag (G-7YJJXZDMJ9) records page views — that a URL was opened, not that a frame was decoded. Diagnostics copy technical facts to your clipboard only when you ask. The full list is on the privacy page.
We do not currently run advertising tags. If FramePad is accepted into a display network later, that will be disclosed and, where the law requires it, consented. Media files will still not be the payload. Page views and ad cookies are not the same as a copy of your timeline.
Limits of a tab
A browser tab is not a render farm. Very long 4K sources can exhaust memory. SharedArrayBuffer and WASM threads depend on the right headers. Safari, Firefox, and Chrome do not encode identically. If FFmpeg.wasm cannot start, use PNG for a still or the canvas recorder for a WebM. For a two-hour master, use a local NLE. FramePad is a 9:16 preflight and a short-form converter, not a replacement for Premiere.
The privacy property holds either way: this application does not operate a media processing server. You can verify that in the network panel while you export. You should see font, analytics, and maybe a WASM core — not a multipart upload of the MP4.
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