---
title: "Transform"
description: "Compress, convert, resize, trim or zip any file you drop on it. Transform is part of Droppy, so there is nothing to install, and every file stays on your Mac."
canonical: "https://getdroppy.app/docs/transform"
last-updated: "2026-10-16"
---

# Transform

Compress, convert, resize, trim or zip any file you drop on it. Transform is part of Droppy, so there is nothing to install, and every file stays on your Mac.

Transform is the one place Droppy changes files. Drop a batch on it, pick what it should become, and watch the size it will have before you run it. Finished results stack up in the bottom-right corner of your screen, ready to drag out, reveal in Finder or copy.

## Where to find it

- **Quick Action**: The first tile in the file tray, in the notch and floating. See [Quick Actions](https://getdroppy.app/docs/quick-actions).
- **Item menu**: Right-click a file in the file tray or a floating file tray, choose Transform, then what to do. The batch opens with that operation picked.
- **Thunderstorm**: Press ⌘K on a file in [Thunderstorm](https://getdroppy.app/docs/droplets/thunderstorm) and choose Transform.
- **Finder**: Select files and choose Transform with Droppy from Finder's Services menu.
- **Command Center**: The Transform tile opens an empty window, ready for a drop or Choose Files.
- **AI apps**: With [MCP](https://getdroppy.app/docs/mcp) on, Claude, Cursor and Codex can transform files you name, after you allow it.

## What it does

Transform only offers what fits the files you gave it, and the order follows what most of them are.

- **Compress**: Makes images, videos and PDFs smaller, by quality or to a size you type.
- **Convert**: Changes the format of images, video, audio and documents.
- **Resize and rotate**: Scales images and videos down, and turns or flips images, videos and PDF pages.
- **Trim**: Keeps part of a video or an audio file.
- **Make GIF**: Turns a video into an animated GIF.
- **Video sound and speed**: Extract audio, Remove audio, and Frame rate, for 24, 30, 60 or 120 fps or any rate you type.
- **PDFs**: Combine PDFs and images into one PDF, or split a PDF into one file per page.
- **Clean up**: Remove background cuts the subject out of a photo, and Remove metadata strips location, camera and author details.
- **Files**: Zip a batch, Extract zip, tar, 7-Zip and RAR archives, or Rename a batch at once.

## Settings

Settings, Transform holds what Transform remembers.

- **Save to**: Next to the original, Downloads, or a folder you choose. A file in a temporary folder goes to Downloads instead.
- **Show in Finder**: Reveals the results once Transform is done.
- **Move originals to the Trash**: Only for edits that replace a file, such as compress or convert.
- **Defaults and presets**: The image, video and PDF quality Transform starts from, and the presets the window offers.
- **Operations**: A switch for each operation. One you turn off leaves the window and the item menus.
- **Extra formats**: MP3 output, video containers macOS does not open, and an exact size for videos use FFmpeg, and PDF compression uses Ghostscript. Each installs through Homebrew, only when you press Install.

The folder you picked for the Converter Droplet, or for Smart Export on the General page, is where Transform saves when you have not chosen anything else.