ZestDrop

Drag. Drop. Convert.

A free file converter for Windows that lives in the system tray. Hold Shift while dragging any file, and a wheel of formats appears under your cursor. Drop on one to convert.

Website · Microsoft Store · Download v1.2.1 · 使用指南（中文）

• Hundreds of conversions and 48 tools across images, video, audio, documents and archives, plus 3D models, CAD drawings, fonts, e-books, subtitles, email and data files.
• No main window. The wheel appears while you drag, and the result is saved next to the original file.
• Works offline. Files are processed on your PC and never uploaded. ZestDrop does not connect to the internet.
• Everything included. The download bundles .NET, Python, FFmpeg and 7-Zip; there is nothing else to install.
• English, Simplified Chinese and Arabic, with light and dark appearances.

Download

Windows 10 version 1809 or later, x64.

All GitHub download options provide the same complete application; the online installer downloads the offline package during setup. The installers install for the current user (no administrator rights), add a Start menu shortcut and an uninstaller, and offer an optional desktop shortcut. For a portable bundle, extract the whole archive and run ZestDrop.exe from the ZestDrop folder; keep backend, runtime and the DLLs next to it.

The GitHub builds are unsigned, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first launch. See the release notes and installation and packaging for upgrades and uninstalling.

How to use it

1. Start dragging one or more files on the desktop or in File Explorer.
2. Press Shift for the format wheel, or Ctrl+Shift for the tools wheel. You can let go of the keys once the wheel appears.
3. Release the mouse on an option. Conversions start right away; tools that need settings open a small window.

F8 and F9 also work for drags started in other apps. They are not global hotkeys: when you are not dragging, other apps receive them as usual.

New files are saved next to the originals and never overwrite anything; a duplicate name gets a number. Right-click the tray icon to open the latest result, show or cancel jobs, and change settings.

Screenshots

Related tools share one window. Apply one step, continue on the result, undo if needed, and save once.

Customize wheel. Drag the list and watch the real wheel change; every change saves by itself.

Progress cards. Pause, resume, cancel or hide each job.

What it can do

The wheel shows only what fits the files you drag; with several files selected it shows the operations they all support. Layout-preserving Office exports need the matching desktop Microsoft Word, Excel or PowerPoint.

More features

• Combined tool windows. When a single photo or video has ten or more tools, related tools share one wheel option and one window, such as Crop & rotate, Size & compress or Sound & subtitles. Prefer the older layout? Choose the two-level wheel on the welcome screen or in the tray menu.
• Location. See where a photo or video says it was taken, then remove that location or set a new one by pasting coordinates or borrowing another photo's. Nothing else changes, and JPEGs are not re-encoded.
• Redact PDF. Black out marked areas and any text you type. The content underneath is removed from the file, not just covered.
• Background jobs. Each job gets a progress card in the corner of the screen. Two jobs run at once and the rest wait their turn; pausing a job suspends it completely, including FFmpeg.
• Audio and video previews. Tool windows have a player with a seek bar and volume, draggable trim handles, and previews of the effect before you save.
• Customize wheel shows the list and a live wheel side by side: drag rows or press Alt+Up / Alt+Down, and pick a file type, menu and sample to arrange each wheel.
• Sticky wheel (optional) keeps the wheel open after you release the mouse, so you can hover and click instead.
• Command line. zestdrop convert photo.png --to webp, zestdrop watch ./inbox --to png and zestdrop formats work from Command Prompt or PowerShell.
• Watch folders process new files automatically, with an optional inbox mode that moves each original into an originals folder afterwards.
• Appearance and language. Match Windows, Light or Dark; English, 简体中文 or العربية (right-to-left). Both are in the tray menu.

See the usage guide (in Chinese) for every feature and its limits.

Privacy

ZestDrop works entirely on your PC. It has no account, no telemetry and no network access, and your files are never uploaded. Settings are stored in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZestDrop\settings.json and logs in %LOCALAPPDATA%\ZestDrop\logs. The full policy is at zestdrop.org/privacy.

Build from source

Requires Windows x64 and the .NET 10 SDK. Preparing the portable runtime also needs Python 3.13 with pip and 64-bit 7-Zip (in its default location, or pass its folder).

# Download portable Python and FFmpeg, install pinned packages, and copy 7-Zip
python work/prepare-runtime.py

# Build the self-contained app and copy the Python backend
./build.ps1

# Start the tray app
./outputs/ZestDrop/ZestDrop.exe

• 7-Zip elsewhere: python work/prepare-runtime.py --sevenzip-dir "D:/Tools/7-Zip".
• Already have a complete bundle? Copy its runtime folder to outputs/ZestDrop/runtime and run build.ps1. ./build.ps1 -SkipRuntimeCheck builds the C# app without checking the runtime.
• Release packages: package-exe.ps1 (offline installer), package-online-exe.ps1 (online installer) and package-msix.ps1 (Microsoft Store). See installation and packaging.

Project structure

New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force outputs | Out-Null
dotnet run --project work/F9Checks -- outputs/f9-parameter-tests.json
dotnet run --project work/ProgressChecks -- outputs/progress-ui-tests.json

./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-full-backend.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-advanced-branches.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-app-cli.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-f9-refinements.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-progress.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-i18n.py
./outputs/ZestDrop/runtime/python/python.exe work/test-location-redaction.py

License

ZestDrop's source code is under the MIT License. Python, .NET, FFmpeg, 7-Zip and the other bundled components keep their own licenses; see the dependency record and THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt in the download. The bundled FFmpeg is a GPLv3 build; its source is attached to the v0.1.0 release.

Chinese interface text uses the bundled Source Han Sans CN Medium font, under the SIL Open Font License 1.1. Latin text uses Segoe UI.

Report reproducible bugs in Issues, without uploading private files.