Manatee

Files that won't open, won't send, or won't convert.

Practical guides for the Mac. Each one solves the problem first; Manatee is mentioned where it helps.

Repair

How to fix a corrupted MOV file on a Mac6 minHow to repair a corrupted MP4 that won't play on a Mac6 minMKV file won't open on Mac: how to fix or convert it5 minHow to repair a damaged AVI video on macOS6 minQuickTime says the file isn't compatible: what to do6 minHow to fix a video that plays audio but shows a black screen6 minVideo file is 0 bytes or shows the wrong length: can it be fixed?6 minHow to repair a corrupted PDF on a Mac6 minPreview can't open this PDF: causes and fixes6 minHow to recover a Word document that won't open on Mac6 minFixing a DOCX that Word says is corrupt7 minExcel file is corrupted on Mac: what you can recover7 minHow to repair a PowerPoint file that won't open on Mac7 minHow to fix a corrupted ZIP archive on a Mac6 minCorrupted MP3 or M4A won't play on Mac: how to repair it6 minHow to fix a HEIC photo that won't open on Mac6 minJPEG shows half grey: can a corrupted photo be repaired?6 minPNG file is invalid or unsupported on Mac: fixes that work6 minHow to repair a corrupted GoPro or drone video on a Mac7 miniPhone video won't play on Mac after AirDrop: why and how to fix it6 minVideo recorded on a dashcam won't open on Mac7 minWhy files get corrupted, and what can actually be recovered6 minPartial recovery explained: what 34 of 41 pages really means6 minHow to check whether a video file is corrupted on a Mac6 minFile transfer interrupted: how to salvage a half-copied video6 min

Convert

How to convert HEIC to JPEG on a Mac6 minHow to convert MKV to MP4 on a Mac without losing quality6 minHow to convert MOV to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert WEBM to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert AVI to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert a video to GIF on a Mac6 minHow to convert FLAC to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert M4A to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert WAV to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert OGG or Opus audio to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert WMA to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert an old .doc to .docx on a Mac6 minHow to convert RTF to DOCX on a Mac5 minHow to convert a Word document to plain text on a Mac6 minHow to convert WEBP to JPEG on a Mac6 minHow to convert AVIF images to JPEG on a Mac6 minHow to convert TIFF to PNG on a Mac6 minHow to convert a PSD to PNG without Photoshop on a Mac6 minHow to convert RAW photos (CR2, NEF, ARW, DNG) to JPEG on a Mac7 minHow to convert VTT subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 minHow to convert ASS or SSA subtitles to SRT on a Mac6 minHow to convert MP4 to MP3 (extract the audio) on a Mac6 minHow to convert 3GP phone videos to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert WMV to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert FLV to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert MTS or M2TS camcorder video to MP4 on a Mac6 minHow to convert AIFF to MP3 on a Mac5 minHow to convert an audiobook M4B to MP3 on a Mac6 minHow to convert BMP to PNG on a Mac5 minOnline file converters: what you give up, and the offline alternative6 min

Shrink

How to compress a video for WhatsApp on a Mac6 minHow to shrink a video under Slack's upload limit on a Mac6 minHow to compress a video to email it from a Mac6 minHow to compress a video for Discord on a Mac6 minHow to reduce MP4 file size on a Mac without losing quality6 minHow to compress a PDF on a Mac7 minHow to get a PDF under 10 MB for an upload portal6 minHow to get a PDF under 2 MB for a job application6 minHow to compress a scanned PDF on a Mac7 minHow to compress an iPhone 4K video on a Mac6 minHow to make a screen recording smaller on a Mac6 minGmail's 25 MB attachment limit: how to get a file under it6 minWhatsApp video limits explained, and how to fit under them6 minHow to shrink a video to a specific file size on a Mac7 minWhy compressing a video twice makes it look worse7 minHow to compress a video for Instagram without it looking muddy6 minHow to compress video for iMessage so it sends without 'low quality' mode6 minHow to make a PowerPoint or Word file smaller on a Mac6 minBitrate, resolution and frame rate: which one to cut to shrink a video6 minHow to batch compress videos on a Mac6 min

Clean and privacy

How to remove GPS location from photos on a Mac before sharing6 minHow to strip EXIF data from photos on a Mac6 minWhat your photo's metadata reveals about you6 minHow to remove metadata from a PDF on a Mac6 minHow to remove the author name and edit history from a Word document6 minHow to check a file's metadata on a Mac6 minHow to remove metadata from a video before posting it6 minSelling online? Strip the location data from your listing photos first6 minSending documents to a journalist or lawyer: clean the metadata first7 minDoes AirDrop, iMessage or email strip photo metadata? It depends6 minHow to anonymize a screenshot or photo before posting it7 minTrack changes and comments can leak: cleaning a DOCX before you send it7 minHow to remove metadata from audio files on a Mac6 minWhat Finder's Get Info shows, and what it hides6 minA privacy checklist for files you share from a Mac7 min

Explainers

Container vs codec: why an MP4 can still refuse to play6 minHEIC explained: why iPhone photos won't open everywhere6 minMOV vs MP4: which should you send?6 minWhat is a WEBM file and how do you open it on a Mac5 minEmail attachment size limits by provider (2026)6 minSlack, Teams and Discord file size limits (2026)6 minWhy some videos play on iPhone but not on Mac6 minH.264 vs HEVC: which one your Mac, phone and recipients can open6 minLossless vs lossy: what happens to audio when you convert it6 minThe file someone sent you won't open: a quick diagnosis guide7 min