How Clipy's converters work
Most format problems come down to the container and the codec inside it. A file like .mkv or .avi can hold video your player simply doesn't understand. Converting to MP4 re-encodes the video to H.264 and the audio to AAC, then writes it into an MP4 wrapper with the +faststart flag so playback can begin before the whole file downloads — the combination basically every device on earth can play.
For the heavier conversions we run real ffmpeg on a server instead of in your browser. Your file uploads over a presigned link to the nearest Backblaze B2 storage POP, gets transcoded, and the result is delivered through a CDN and automatically deleted within 24 hours. That's why a 400 MB camcorder file converts here when an in-browser ffmpeg.wasm tool would run out of memory and stall. Lighter jobs — caption files, a quick audio re-wrap — stay in the browser where that's faster.
Skip the conversion next time
A lot of conversions exist only because a recorder saved to an awkward format in the first place. Clipy records your screen straight to a shareable link in standard H.264 MP4 — nothing to convert afterward, no watermark, no install. If you just need to grab a Loom video, the Loom downloader saves it as MP4 directly.