This Cookie Policy explains what cookies and similar storage technologies do on smallpdf.me, which ones you will actually encounter here, and how you can change your mind at any time.
What a cookie is
A cookie is a small text file that a website asks your browser to store, which the browser then sends back with later requests so the site can recognise something about your visit. Cookies are not programs and they cannot read files on your device. They hold small pieces of text: an identifier, a preference, a timestamp.
What actually gets set on this site
We want to be precise about this, because most cookie policies are vague on purpose.
- Our own code does not set advertising cookies and does not set analytics cookies.
- The one thing our own code stores is your consent choice. It goes into your browser’s localStorage under the key z11_consent_v1. It is a small record, roughly along the lines of a version number, your choice, and the date you made it.
- Google AdSense serves the ads on this site and may set cookies and read its own cookies in your browser. Those cookies are set by Google, not by us. Publisher id: pub-8928122502589555.
- This site sits behind Cloudflare. Cloudflare may set its own security cookie to tell apart real visitors from automated traffic. That one is essential to keeping the site online.
Everything beyond the strictly necessary items is off by default. If you never touch the consent banner, no advertising cookie is set by us or on our behalf. Nothing about your files is involved in any of this, because your files never leave your device.
Cookies and localStorage are not the same thing
They are often mentioned together, so it helps to separate them.
A cookie is sent to a server with each request. It has a size limit of roughly 4 KB and it can carry an expiry date. localStorage is a storage box inside your browser. Whatever goes in stays on your device. It is never transmitted with your requests, and no server can read it directly. It has no expiry date at all. It sits there until something removes it.
Our consent record lives in localStorage because a preference does not need to travel to a server on every page load. There is one practical consequence you should know about. Clearing cookies in your browser settings will not clear localStorage, and clearing site data will not always clear the consent record in the way you might expect. The reliable way to change your choice is the “Cookie settings” button described further down.
Categories of cookies and storage on this site
| Category | What it does here | Examples | Set by | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Strictly necessary | Keeps the site reachable and secure, filters abusive traffic, and records whether you have made a consent choice so the banner does not ask again on every page. | Cloudflare security cookie; the consent record in localStorage (z11_consent_v1) |
This site and its infrastructure provider | Always on |
| Advertising | Selects and measures ads. Google and its partners may use these cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites, to limit how often you see the same ad, and to measure performance. | __gads, __gpi, and other Google advertising cookies |
Google and its advertising partners | Only after you consent |
| Analytics | Nothing. No analytics product is installed on this site at present. No analytics cookie is set, and no page-view or session data is collected through cookies. | None | Nobody | Not in use |
| Preferences | Remembers your consent choice so your decision sticks. Stored as a small record rather than a cookie. | z11_consent_v1 in localStorage |
This site | Always on |
About the advertising cookies
Third-party vendors, Google among them, use cookies to serve ads based on your prior visits to this website and other websites. Google’s use of advertising cookies enables it and its partners to serve ads to you based on your visit to this site or other sites on the internet. That includes personalised advertising, frequency capping, and measurement of how ads performed.
You can opt out of personalised advertising from Google through Google Ads Settings. You can opt out of personalised advertising from many other vendors through aboutads.info and, for European visitors, youronlinechoices.com. Opting out does not remove ads from the site. It stops ads being tailored to your earlier browsing. Also note that Google’s ad cookies are read by Google on many sites, so their activity is not limited to this one.
How to withdraw or change your consent
You have several controls, and they work at different levels.
- Cookie settings button. This is the main one. It reopens the consent banner so you can allow or refuse advertising cookies, and it updates the record held under
z11_consent_v1. Use it whenever you want to change your mind. Your new choice applies from that point on. - Your browser’s cookie controls. Every mainstream browser lets you view, block, and delete cookies, including third-party cookies. Deleting them removes Google’s ad cookies from your device. This does not change the localStorage record, so use the Cookie settings button as well if you want that updated too.
- Google Ads Settings. Turns off personalised advertising tied to your Google account or browser at adssettings.google.com.
- Industry opt-out pages. aboutads.info/choices and youronlinechoices.com cover a large number of advertising vendors at once.
Refusing advertising cookies does not break any tool. Convert, compress, merge, split, or edit as much as you like. The tools do not depend on ad cookies, and no tool downloads an ad to work.
Do Not Track and Global Privacy Control
Some browsers send a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal. These signals are not interpreted in a consistent way across the web, and there is no agreed standard for how a site must respond to them.
Here is where this site stands. Advertising and analytics storage default to denied until you make a choice, so a visitor who sends a Do Not Track or Global Privacy Control signal and never touches the banner ends up in the same position as anyone else who has not consented: no advertising cookie, no analytics. If you want a recorded decision rather than just the default, open Cookie settings and refuse. That record is what we act on.
How long cookies and stored choices last
- The Cloudflare security cookie is short-lived. It expires within hours, and often much sooner.
- Your consent record in localStorage has no expiry date. It stays until you clear site data or change your choice with the Cookie settings button.
- Google’s advertising cookies have their own lifetimes set by Google, ranging from a single browsing session to many months, and they can be refreshed on later visits to this or another site that shows Google ads.
- Session cookies, where any are used, disappear when you close the browser.
Deleting cookies and site data is always available to you and needs no permission from us. If you are unsure which of the categories above apply to your device, open your browser’s site-data panel and read the entries listed for smallpdf.me.
Contact
Questions about this Cookie Policy, or about anything described here, can go to [email protected]. You can also use the contact page. We read everything that arrives.
Last updated: 10 October 2026