What Convert Buddy Is (and Is Not)
Understanding what Convert Buddy excels at—and what it doesn't—will help you use it effectively.
What it excels at
Large file conversion
Convert Buddy shines when converting files that are too large to fit comfortably in memory. Thanks to streaming, you can process multi-GB files with constant ~10MB memory usage.
- Use Convert Buddy: Converting a 2GB CSV to JSON
- Don't use: Converting a 5KB JSON snippet (overhead dominates)
Browser-based data conversion
Process sensitive data entirely client-side. No uploads, no servers, complete privacy.
- Use Convert Buddy: HIPAA-compliant medical record conversion in browser
- Don't use: Server-side batch processing (native tools are faster)
Progress & cancellation
Real-time telemetry and abort support enable responsive UIs for long-running operations.
- Use Convert Buddy: File converter with progress bar and cancel button
Format-agnostic pipelines
Auto-detection lets you build tools that accept "any data file" without format-specific code.
When not to use it
Tiny inputs (<10KB)
WASM initialization overhead (~10-50ms) makes Convert Buddy slower than native JavaScript parsers for small inputs. If all your data is under 100KB, use format-specific libraries:
- CSV:
papaparse - JSON:
JSON.parse() - XML:
fast-xml-parser
- Unified API across browser and Node.js
- Format auto-detection
- Progress telemetry
How it compares to single-format parsers
| Feature | Convert Buddy | Single-format parsers |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming | ✅ Always | ⚠️ Sometimes (papaparse has streaming, others don't) |
| Memory usage | ✅ Constant (~10MB) | ❌ Grows with input size |
| Performance (small files) | ❌ Slower (WASM overhead) | ✅ Faster (native JS) |
| Performance (large files) | ✅ Faster (SIMD, Rust) | ❌ Slower or crashes |
| Format detection | ✅ Built-in | ❌ Manual |
| Progress tracking | ✅ Real-time stats | ❌ Usually not available |
| Multiple formats | ✅ 4 formats, any-to-any | ❌ One format only |
Decision guide
Use Convert Buddy if:
- Files are typically >1MB
- You need browser-based conversion
- You want to show progress to users
- Input format varies (auto-detection needed)
- You're converting between formats
Don't use Convert Buddy if:
- All inputs are <100KB
- You're only parsing (not converting)
- You need format-specific features (e.g., XML namespaces)
- You're doing server-side batch processing where native tools suffice