Are XLS files safe to convert?

Conversion itself is safe - jpg.now does not execute macros embedded in XLS files. However, XLS has historically been a malware vector via Excel 4.0 macros (XLM) and VBA. If a file is suspicious, do not open it in Excel first; convert directly through the browser, where embedded code never runs.

Why jpg.now is safe to use

jpg.now is a regular HTTPS web app that runs file conversion on its own servers using well-known open-source encoders (Pillow, ImageMagick, mozjpeg, oxipng, libheif, libwebp, etc.). All traffic between your browser and our servers is encrypted in transit. Files are stored on private disks and a private S3-compatible bucket, never on public object URLs.

No software install is required — everything happens in your browser, so there is nothing to download, no plugin to update, and no background process running on your machine.

What we don't do

  • No signup wall. The first 10 conversions per day work without an account — no email, no name, no card.
  • No watermark. Your output is the unmodified result of the encoder. No logo, no border, no overlay.
  • No file scanning. We read the file header to detect the format and validate the size, but we don't open the image for content analysis, OCR, or moderation.
  • No tracking inside files. If you tick "Strip EXIF" we remove GPS coordinates, camera serial numbers and other metadata from the output.

How to verify it for yourself

If you're security-conscious, you can verify behaviour by:

  • Opening your browser's network inspector during a conversion — you'll see exactly one POST to /api/convert and a small set of polls to /api/jobs/<id>.
  • Re-downloading the output file 25 hours later — the link returns a 404 (file purged).
  • Reading the privacy policy and the terms of service in full.
Try the XLS → JPG tool
Free, no signup required. Files deleted in 24 h.
Open XLS → JPG
Back to all FAQ