Uploading Photos to the Cloud to Compress Them? Why You Should Stop Today

The invisible risk: what happens when you upload your photo to "compress free"?

Millions of people use free online tools every day to compress, convert, or resize images. The mechanics seem harmless: you upload your photo, the tool processes it on their servers, and returns the result.

But there's a problem almost nobody considers: during that process, your image lives on third-party servers. And what happens there is out of your control.

The 4 real risks of compressing photos in the cloud

1. Undisclosed storage

Many "free" tools store copies of your images. They may do this to:

• Create backups "just in case"
• Analyze usage patterns
• Have material to train algorithms

The problem: they rarely tell you how long they keep your files or if they actually delete them.

2. Use for AI training

The explosion of artificial intelligence has created a massive demand for training data. Your personal photos, your scanned documents, your screenshots... everything can be valuable material for training models.

Have you read the terms of service? Many include clauses granting broad licenses over the content you upload.

3. Data breaches

Even large companies suffer security breaches. If the server processing your image is hacked, your content can end up exposed:

• Personal or intimate photos
• Documents with sensitive data (invoices, ID, contracts)
• Medical or financial images

4. Revealing metadata

Your photos contain more information than you think: GPS location, device model, exact date and time. By uploading them, you also hand over this metadata to the service.

The alternative: 100% local (client-side) processing

There's a different way to process images: doing everything in your browser, without any file leaving your device.

This is how Orqui and other tools with client-side processing work:

1. You load the web page (only once)
2. You select your image
3. Your browser processes the image using your CPU/GPU
4. The result is generated locally
5. You download the processed file from your own device

🔒 The key difference: At no point does your image travel to an external server. Processing happens entirely on your computer.

How to verify that a tool is truly local?

There's a simple test:

1. Load the tool's page
2. Disconnect your internet (turn off WiFi or unplug the cable)
3. Try to process an image

If it works offline, it's real local processing. If it gives an error, it was sending your files to a server.

You can also open your browser's developer tools (F12) and check the "Network" tab while processing an image. If there are no outgoing requests with image data, it's local.

What types of files should you NEVER upload to online tools?

• 📄 Documents with personal data: ID, passport, invoices, bank statements
• 🏥 Medical information: Reports, X-rays, prescriptions
• 💼 Work documents: Contracts, payslips, confidential company information
• 📸 Personal or intimate photos: Any image you wouldn't want to see leaked
• 🔑 Screenshots with credentials: Screens with passwords, access codes

Why Orqui is different

At Orqui we've designed all our tools with privacy by default:

• 100% browser processing: We use modern APIs like Canvas, WebAssembly, and Web Workers.
• No processing servers: We don't have infrastructure to receive your files because we don't need them.
• Auditable code: You can verify in your browser that there's no data transmission.
• No registration: You don't need to create an account. We don't collect user data.
• Works offline: Once the page is loaded, you can disconnect from the internet and keep working.

Secure tools for compressing and converting

Use these Orqui tools with complete peace of mind:

• Image compressor — Reduce file size without visible quality loss
• Format converter — Switch between JPEG, PNG, WebP, and more
• Resize — Adjust sizes while maintaining proportions
• Remove background — Remove backgrounds without uploading anything

🔐 Compress your invoices or personal photos without them leaving your device.
Try secure local compression here →

FAQ

• What do online tools do with my photos?
  Most upload them to external servers where they may be stored, analyzed, or used to train AI models without your explicit consent.
• Is it safe to compress invoices or documents online?
  Not recommended. Sensitive documents with personal, financial, or medical data should not be uploaded to third-party servers.
• What is client-side processing?
  It's when all the work (compression, conversion) happens in your browser using your device's power. Your files never leave your computer.
• How do I know if a tool processes locally?
  Disconnect your internet after loading the page: if it still works, it's local. In Orqui you can verify this in your browser's network panel.
• Is local processing slower?
  Not necessarily. Modern browsers are very efficient and for typical image sizes the difference is imperceptible.
• What about very popular "free" tools?
  If the product is free, you're usually the product. Your images may be the payment in the form of data for advertising or AI training.