
The Problem
I’ve always been annoyed by "free" online video compressors. Most of them have strict 50MB limits, make you wait in a "queue," or—worst of all—require you to upload your private videos to their servers just to shrink them.
I wanted a way to compress videos for Discord, Slack, or Email without the privacy risk or the slow upload speeds.
The Solution
I built LocalSquash.
It’s a simple, minimalist web tool that handles video, audio, and image compression/conversion. The "secret sauce" is that it uses FFmpeg.wasm. This means all the heavy lifting happens directly in your browser using your computer's CPU.
Why I think it’s useful:
100% Private: Your files never leave your computer. You can even turn off your internet after the page loads, and it will still work.
No Limits: No "file size too large" errors (as long as your RAM can handle it).
Fast: No waiting for a 200MB file to upload to a server before the processing starts.
Clean: No ads, no tracking, no "Pro" upsells.
The Tech Stack
Engine: FFmpeg.wasm (WebAssembly)
Frontend: Next.js
Hosting: Cloudflare Pages
What's next?
This started as a side project for my own use, but I’d love to know what the IH community thinks.
Does the UI feel intuitive?
Are there specific formats you'd like to see?
Are there any bugs you run into?
Check it out here: https://localsquash.com