this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2025
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Handbrake has a GUI, and it's relatively straightforward to use. VLC also works well. You can also use ffmpeg on the CLI like so:
imagemagick isn't really that hard, in most cases it's:
For example:
If that doesn't work, try
pdftoppm:I don't know of a good GUI for it, I recommend just learning to use either imagemagick or pdftoppm.
I downloaded it and it immediately did not work so I'm gonna have to disagree with you there, champ.
I've lost far too many hours to the CLI. I don't fall for that trick anymore.
You do you, I guess. Those are incredibly simple commands I provided, and you can intuit pretty easily how to tweak them for other formats.
I guess it's up to you. You can gamble with random services online, or you can spend a few minutes and learn to use a tool that's all but guaranteed to not have malware.
This is just a fucking lie and I'm tired of hearing it. What did I just say?
I've tried to learn this shit. It's a fucking rabbit hole. I type these commands, letter for letter, the terminal returns some completely useless error that provides me with no diagnostic information whatsoever, I spend hours searching and trying to understand why and come up empty-handed. I don't have time for that anymore. I already have multiple jobs. It's not how I prefer to spend my free time. And frankly, I don't believe it anymore when software engineers feed me this bullshit.
You know what those web services do? I just click a button and it does what the button says. Why is that so hard?
There's also a pretty big chance that they'll do more than what the button says, like inject malware. That's the whole point of the article.
I understand that but that's beside the point. It does what they advertise. It's incredibly simple and easy to use. Why can no one make something comparable that's FOSS?
They did, it's often a CLI interface because it's incredibly flexible. ffmpeg and imagemagick are quite easy for basic things.
Building a cross-platform GUI is a pain, and hosting a website costs money. Building a cross-platform CLI is incredibly easy, which is why it's so popular.
Some of these tools have GUI frontends or alternatives, some don't. The more niche you go, the harder it'll be to find a reasonable GUI, and I consider PDF to JPEG pretty niche.
No. This does not compute.
You don't have to host a website. Just make software that works like the website and runs locally.
But not niche enough that these websites don't exist.
No offense, but you were told about handbrake, a tool that goes out of its way to offer a cross-platform GUI and complained about it not immediately working- with no elaboration.
We learn to write before we learn to navigate computer systems- the command line is only scary because digital illiteracy is taught to us the second we are presented with the windows/macos login screen. It truly does not get simpler than telling a computer
convert image.pdf image.jpg.These tools are daunting, yes, and it's not your fault that everyone is taught that computers are magic boxes we have no real control over, but the hours you spend in a command line are just like the hours you spend learning to sew, or play an instrument. Nobody starts with every manpage seared into their brain, but if you're able to look up a sketchy website that may well give you malware, you have the tools needed to learn this valuable skill.
No offense but as I mentioned previously, I downloaded handbrake and it did not work because it does not function like those websites.
The command line is not "scary", it just requires specialized knowledge. If I'm presented with a GUI I don't need any specialized knowledge, I just look at the available options and click the ones I need. In the command line I'm not presented with a fuckin thing except a black box and text field, and when I spend my time searching the web for commands and then type them in, they return a generic error with no diagnostic information and I waste hours trying to figure it out.
I'm telling you this is not for lack of trying. Im not helpless, I literally just don't have time to acquire this breadth of specialty knowledge. I already have multiple jobs. When I need plumbing work, I don't spend 40 hours learning to become a half-assed plumber and cross my fingers that I don't fuck it up and destroy my house, I hire a specialist who knows how to do it right and I spend my time doing my profession to make back the money that I paid them.
I'm simply not wasting my time anymore chasing this stuff that people that lack self-awareness repeatedly declare is "easy".
Making a GUI is more work than making a CLI tool. GUIs are not cross-platform, a pure CLI is more portable. You can code a CLI with any programming language you like, while there are many restrictions on what kind of GUI is available on what programming languages and platforms.
The GUI code is tedious and boring to write. That code can become outdated and broken and might need fixing to run on newer platforms. The CLI has essentially no extra dependencies and the interface hasn't changed much since like the 70s.
The sort of person who develops free software usually knows and likely prefers to use the CLI. They're not doing it for users like you, first and foremost. They're doing it themselves, or because they need it for their job. The CLI tool might be exactly what they want, because the file conversion is part of some backend stuff, something that's run from a script, so you can automatically run it on all the files.
Anybody with basic web dev skills can then take these tools, slap together web fronted and try and make some quick bucks. They're basically incentivized to not care about security, privacy or anything like that. Of course that space attracts scammers.
The incentives just aren't there for it to be any other way. You can either learn the CLI commands, written by people who care about their reputations and professional pride and want to share their tools. Or you can trust anonymous internet randos wanting to make a quick buck. And while I sympathize not wanting to have to learn new shit, I swear using a shell isn't actually more complicated than using a web browser, you're just not used to it.
We're just going around in circles here. I already told you that I am used to it. I've dedicated many dozens of hours of my life to trying to learn it while tearing my hair out because things people like you repeatedly declare is simple simply isn't. I'm not falling for it anymore. I'm not giving it anymore of my time. I have better things to do.
Overall fair enough I guess. I didn't say it was simple though, i said it was not more complicated. Your experience using GUIs and web interfaces probably spans years. It's not like you're born with GUI skills.
Those are the same thing.
I don't know why you guys are always harping on about "experience". This has nothing to do with experience. Anyone who has never even used a computer before can go to one of these websites, follow the instructions on the screen in front of them, and get it done. Zero experience or skills required. As opposed to being presented with a black box with a bunch of random characters and a flashing square.
No they don't. People who have never used a computer before have trouble even using the mouse. They don't know what a file is, they don't know what a filetype is, they don't know that you can convert one type of file to another, they don't know even to look for a file conversion website, they don't know how to upload a file to a website, they don't know how to find a file in the file dialogue, and on and on. Seriously what are you on about?
You're just lying.
About what?