How Recast works

Recast is a focused, free GIS file converter. It runs in your browser, using your computer’s CPU and memory. Your selected file contents are not uploaded to a conversion server.

Drop, inspect, choose, convert

1. Select a supported file and any required companions.
2. Recast opens it locally and reads its format, layers or bands, and available coordinates.
3. Review the metadata and choose an offered output. Some conversions require a layer or band selection.
4. Click Convert, then save the downloaded result. A batch produces separate downloads.

Automatic detection has limits

Recast identifies supported datasets from their readable contents after checking the extension. It cannot infer a missing CRS, recover corrupt pixels, or verify that the file’s creator assigned the correct coordinates. It shows what the file says and flags missing information.

What stays local

The website and the GDAL WebAssembly engine load from this site. Inspection, conversion, and generated file downloads then happen in your browser. Recast does not require an account. As with any hosted website, ordinary page and asset requests still reach the hosting infrastructure; that is separate from the file contents you select.

Problem reports

Submitting a report stores the text you write in a private Cloudflare database and emails it to Recast’s owner for review. No files, filenames, coordinates, or error logs are attached automatically. Cloudflare Turnstile loads when you open the report form to help prevent spam. Reports remain private and are retained until the team removes them. This voluntary submission is separate from local file conversion; please omit sensitive information.

Website analytics

We use self-hosted Rybbit at analytics.ycorplabs.com to understand visits, page views, outbound link clicks, and file conversion usage. Session replay, form and button capture, copy tracking, and error tracking are disabled. Query strings are excluded from tracked page URLs. Conversion events record inspection and conversion outcomes, input/output format categories, broad input-size ranges, single-file or batch mode, and rounded conversion duration. We do not send file contents, filenames, layer names, coordinates, CRS definitions, or raw error messages. Browser blockers can prevent these analytics events from being recorded. Analytics requests are separate from the local conversion process.

When to use another tool

Use Recast for a supported conversion with few settings. If you need visual map inspection, editing, an unsupported format, or data beyond browser memory limits, consider QGIS or compare MyGeodata’s broader online service. This site does not promise cold-start offline use or successful conversion of every file under its size limits.

Built with open-source tools

Conversions use gdal3.js and GDAL; ZIP handling uses fflate. Their bundled GDAL wrapper license and ZIP library license are available here.