How to convert file types on the cloud for free

Table of Contents

Case #

There are many cases in which regular and power users need to convert a file from one type (extension) to another. This scenario covers any file type, such as multimedia files, word processing and spreadsheet files. Converting between different file extensions can easily be accomplished by utilizing free cloud SaaS services. This quick how-to article includes references to free cloud services for file type conversion.

Bear in mind that by using free cloud services for file conversion you accept their terms of usage and this could possibly lead to privacy issues. So if your files have sensitive data, including personally identifiable information, medical or financial data, you should think twice before sharing your files with any service and definitely review their terms and conditions first.

Solution #

Choose among the following services for free file type conversion on the cloud.

There also comes a scenario in which you need to convert file types which are compatible to a certain operating system to the equivalent file type of another operating system, for example when switching from Windows to Linux or Apple MacOSX, etc. In these cases, there are a handful of free utilities offered by the operating systems themselves to carry out the necessary conversions.

  • dos2unix. To convert a Windows text file to a UNIX text file
  • unix2dos. To convert a Unix text file to a Windows text file
  • awk. The awk command also lets you convert a file from UNIX to Windows and vice versa.
  • tr. The tr command (transliterate) can be used to remove the carriage return characters and the “Ctrl-Z” characters from a Windows file, while converting a file from Windows to UNIX.
  • Make use of Notepad++ or Microsoft Visual Studio Code to automatically convert from different text file line endings between Windows and Unix/Linux. Text files created on DOS/Windows machines have different line endings than files created on Unix/Linux. DOS uses carriage return and line feed ("\r\n") as a line ending, which Unix uses just line feed ("\n").
  • If you need to convert your file types and data from Windows to Apple Mac, review the following articles:
  • If you need to convert your file types from Apple Mac to Windows, review the following article:

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