Support
Help with PixelCinch
Most questions are answered below. If yours is not, write to us — a person reads every message.
Common questions
The file picker does not open
A browser shield or extension is blocking Google’s script. Brave’s shields are the most common cause. Allow third-party cookies for pixelcinch.com, or try Chrome.
Some files were skipped
If compressing an image would save less than 3% — or make it larger, which happens with flat-colour logos — PixelCinch writes nothing and tells you why. Files that have already been through PixelCinch are flagged before you start.
A file could not be written
You probably have view-only access to it. Set “Save to” on the left to “Save to my Drive” and the results go to your own Drive instead.
My transparent logo lost its transparency
That happens when the output format is forced to JPEG, which has no transparency. Use “Automatic” — it writes images with transparency as WebP and keeps it.
A video was skipped as “Already compressed”
Before compressing a whole video, PixelCinch tests a few seconds of it. If the test shows it would barely shrink, the video is left untouched and the allowance is returned. This is normal for videos that came through WhatsApp or social apps — they were compressed when they were sent. Videos straight from a phone or camera shrink the most.
My iPhone video says the browser cannot decode it
iPhone videos use HEVC. Chrome on a Mac and Safari can read them; some Windows computers cannot. Nothing is written and your file is untouched. Try the same video on a Mac, or in Safari.
How long does a video take, and can I close the tab?
On a recent laptop a phone video usually takes a fraction of its own length — an 18-second clip took about 5 seconds in our tests — plus the upload back to Drive. Videos run one at a time. Keep the tab open until they finish; closing it stops the run and nothing half-finished is written.
Why do my compressed iPhone videos look less bright?
iPhones record in HDR. PixelCinch saves videos in standard colour so they look the same in every player, including ones that cannot show HDR. Colours stay correct; the extra brightness of HDR highlights is not kept.
How do I add a watermark?
Under Watermark on the left, choose Text, Logo, or Logo and text. Type your text or choose a logo file (a PNG with a transparent background works best), pick a position or tick Repeat across the image, and set the size and opacity. The preview shows your first selected image. Every image in the run is stamped; videos are not watermarked.
My originals were not watermarked — only copies were
That is on purpose. A watermark cannot be removed later, so turning it on switches Save to to a new folder and your clean originals stay as they were. You can choose Overwrite if you really want to replace them; PixelCinch asks you to confirm first.
My watermark settings disappeared
Settings and your logo are kept in this browser only, so they do not follow you to another computer or a private window, and clearing site data removes them. Choose the logo again and they will be saved for next time.
I paid but still see the Free plan
Plan changes arrive from our payment provider and can take a minute. Open the account menu at the top right and choose “Refresh plan”. If it still says Free after a few minutes, email us with the address you paid with.
How do I cancel?
Payments are handled by Polar, not by us. Open the customer portal, enter the email you paid with, and cancel there. Your Pro access continues until the end of the period you already paid for. You can also reach the portal from the account menu inside the app.
How do I remove PixelCinch’s access to my Drive?
Signing out only clears the session in that tab. To revoke the permission itself, go to your Google account permissions page and remove PixelCinch.
How do I delete my account?
Email us from the address you signed up with and we will delete your record. We hold an account row and usage counters — nothing else.
Known limits
- Animated GIFs are written as a single frame. PixelCinch warns you before this happens.
- HEIC and AVIF can be read but not written. Those files become JPEG or WebP.
- SVG is not supported.
- Processing runs in your browser, so a very large batch on a low-memory device can be slow.
What we can and cannot see
When you email us about a problem, we cannot look at your images — we never receive them. Compression runs in your browser and the files travel between you and Google directly. What helps us most is the text from the activity log at the bottom of the app, which contains file names and sizes but no image data. Read it before you send it if you would rather not share the names.
Full details are in our privacy policy.