Terms

Draft for legal review, not yet in force. Text in square brackets is not final.

Last updated: [EFFECTIVE DATE]

These terms are the agreement between you and the operator of Universal Conversion: a sole proprietorship under Swiss law, trading as “Universal Conversion”, [c/o STREET ADDRESS], [NPA] Fribourg, Switzerland (“we”, “us”). It covers your use of universalconversion.ch (the “service”). The operator’s name and contact details are on the legal notice page.

By using the service you accept these terms. If you buy a subscription, you accept them again at checkout, together with the subscription terms in sections 6 to 10.

If you live in the EU or EEA and use the service as a consumer, you also have the rights the law of your country gives you, and nothing here takes them away (see section 17).

1. What the service is

Universal Conversion converts files between formats, and lets you edit photos, documents (PDFs, text documents, spreadsheets, slides and notes) and video, and transcribe speech.

Everything happens in your browser. The tools are downloaded to your browser and run on your own device. Your files aren’t uploaded to us and never leave your device. That has three consequences you should know about:

• Your device does the work. How fast it runs, and how large a file you can handle, depends on your device, its memory and your browser. A file that is too big for your device may fail, even on a paid plan.
• We don’t have a copy of your file. If something goes wrong, we can’t recover it for you. Always keep your original.
• You need a current browser. Recent versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari on desktop and mobile. Some formats depend on what your browser itself supports. For example, H.264, HEVC and AAC are handled by the browser’s own codecs, so a conversion your browser can’t do will be refused, and the site says why. AI tools work best on devices with a recent graphics processor. [CONFIRM: wording on browser requirements]

The AI tools download their engine and model from this site the first time you use them, and your browser keeps them afterwards (see What we store). [CONFIRM]

The open-source components the service uses, and their licences, are listed on the Licences page. Nothing in these terms limits the rights those licences give you.

2. Using it for free

You can use the service without paying, within daily limits:

• The day. The count resets at midnight UTC.
• Free limits by room. The same with or without a free account: Convert, files up to [500 MB]; Video, films up to [1080p] and [30 minutes]; Music, exports up to [48 kHz] and [30 minutes], with up to [4] tracks without an account and [8] with a free account; Transcribe, recordings up to [30 minutes]; Photo and Docs, no size limit. A subscription lifts them.
• What counts. Each file you get out of the service counts as one: a converted file, an exported photo, an exported video, and a document, sheet, slides or PDF you download. A zip counts as one file, however many files are inside it. A transcription counts once, when it finishes; saving its text or subtitles, in any format, does not count again.
• What never counts. Opening and editing; the editors keeping your work in your browser as you go; printing, including printing to PDF (except a document carrying a signature, below); copying text; saved edit and look settings in Photo; a still frame saved from Video; and adding a finished transcript to its video. [CONFIRM]
• Failed files. A file that fails or is stopped before you get it isn’t counted.
• Files that need a subscription. Every tool can be used for free on screen, but these files can only be saved with a subscription: a document carrying a drawn or typed signature, including printing it; several files converted or exported at once; a video above 1080p or longer than 30 minutes; an upscaled video; a 16-bit TIFF photo; music exported as stems, as an album, above 48 kHz or longer than 30 minutes, or from a session with more tracks than the free limit; and a transcription of a recording longer than 30 minutes. [CONFIRM]
• Shared networks. To keep the free tier fair, there is also a daily ceiling per network: [6] files without an account, and [40] by free accounts. If many people share one connection, the ceiling can be reached before your own limit.

We may change the free limits at any time. A change takes effect when it is shown on the site. The free service is provided as it is, without any promise that it will stay available in its current form.

3. Accounts

• The basics. You need an account to subscribe. Use a real email address you control and keep your password to yourself. You’re responsible for what happens under your account.
• Confirming your email. A free account gets its higher limit once you confirm your email address.
• Minimum age. You must be at least 16 to create an account. To buy a subscription you must be at least 18, or have the consent of a parent or guardian. [CONFIRM]
• One account each. One person, one account. Creating several accounts to get around the free limits isn’t allowed.
• For one person. An account and its plan are for you alone, not for sharing with other people, a team or a company. You can be signed in on up to 3 devices at once; signing in on a fourth signs out the one used longest ago.
• Deleting your account. You can delete your account at any time from the account page (Delete account), or ask us to by writing to contact@universalconversion.ch. A subscription is cancelled first. Deleting the account doesn’t refund the current period, except as section 9 says.

4. Your content

• Your files are yours. We claim no rights in anything you convert, edit or create, and we never receive it.
• You’re responsible for what you process. Make sure you have the right to convert and edit the files you use. Because processing happens on your device, we don’t see, check or store your content.
• Signatures. The signature tool places a picture of your signature, drawn or typed, on a document. It is a simple electronic signature, not a qualified digital signature, and nothing in the file proves who signed it or that it was not changed afterwards. It is fine for most everyday agreements, but it does not meet a legal requirement for a handwritten or written-form signature (in Switzerland, for example, guarantees, assignments of claims, lease terminations or non-compete clauses). We don’t check what you sign. [CONFIRM]
• AI tools. Transcripts, background removal, upscaling and the other AI tools can make mistakes: check a transcript before you rely on it. Subtitle translations are made by a machine: they can be wrong, they are not certified translations, and you should check them before you publish them or use them for anything official. [CONFIRM] If you publish an AI-edited picture or video of a real person, the law where you publish may require you to say so.

5. Acceptable use

Don’t:

• use the service for anything illegal, or to process content that is illegal where you are, such as material that infringes someone else’s rights or exploits children;
• get around the free limits or the payment system, for example by automating requests, creating multiple accounts, deliberately resetting the identifiers we use for counting, or tampering with the requests the site makes to our server;
• attack, overload or probe the service or its servers, or try to get into other people’s accounts;
• resell or offer the service, or access to a paid account, to others as your own service.

If you do, we may suspend or close your account (section 14). This section doesn’t limit your rights under the open-source licences mentioned in section 1.

Open-source parts you may change. Some parts of the service are licensed under the GNU Lesser General Public License, among them the FFmpeg library that converts video and audio. Nothing in these terms forbids you to modify those parts for your own use, or to reverse-engineer them to debug such modifications, and you may replace them with your own build. Their source code, and how to rebuild them, are on the Licences page. [CONFIRM]

6. Subscription: what you get and what it costs

A subscription removes the daily limit and the file-size limit set by us, and lets you save the files listed in section 2 as needing one, for as long as it is active. [CONFIRM]

The currency is chosen from the country your connection appears to come from.

[OPTION A, prices include VAT] Prices include any VAT or sales tax due in your country. You pay the price shown, nothing more.

[OPTION B, tax added at checkout] Applicable taxes are added at checkout, and the total is shown before you pay.

[CONFIRM: decision 3]

7. Billing and automatic renewal

• Paying. You pay in advance, through Stripe, for each period: monthly or yearly.
• Automatic renewal. Your subscription renews automatically at the end of each period, for the same length and at the same price, and Stripe charges your payment method, until you cancel. A price can only change as section 12 says: never by silence.
• The yearly plan after its first year. Once a yearly plan has renewed, you can end it at any time with at most one month’s notice, and we refund the part of the year you won’t use, in proportion to the days left (section 8). [CONFIRM: applies §309 Nr. 9 BGB to everyone]
• Yearly reminder. For yearly plans we email you 30 days before each renewal, with the date, the price and a link to cancel.
• If a payment fails, Stripe will retry it, and your account may lose the subscription’s benefits until the payment succeeds. If it can’t be collected, the subscription ends.
• Promotion codes. If we offer you one, its terms are shown when you use it.

8. Cancelling

You can cancel at any time with “Cancel contracts here” on the contract page, linked from every page as “Cancel or withdraw”. You don’t need to sign in. We confirm your cancellation by email straight away, with the date and time we received it and the date your plan ends. You can also cancel from Account → Manage billing.

• When it takes effect. The cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you’ve already paid for. You keep the subscription’s benefits until then, and you won’t be charged again.
• A yearly plan after its first year ends one month after you cancel, or at the end of the year if that is sooner, and we refund the unused part of the year, in proportion to the days left, to the payment method you used.
• Partial periods. Apart from that, we don’t refund the rest of a period when you cancel, except as section 9 says.
• By email. You can also cancel by writing to contact@universalconversion.ch from the address on your account.

9. Refunds

[OPTION A, recommended: simple guarantee] If you’re not happy, you can get your money back in full within 14 days of your first payment for a subscription. Use the contract page (section 10) or write to contact@universalconversion.ch. No reason needed. This applies to everyone, wherever you live. After 14 days, and for renewals, we don’t refund partial periods, except where the law requires it or where we failed to provide the service.

[OPTION B, statutory minimum] We refund payments where the law requires it, including when an EU consumer withdraws under section 10. Otherwise payments are not refundable, and cancelling stops future renewals (section 8).

Whatever option applies: if the service doesn’t work as described and we can’t fix it within a reasonable time, you can end the subscription and get a refund for the period you couldn’t use. This doesn’t affect any other rights you have by law.

Refunds go back to the payment method you used, normally within 14 days.

[CONFIRM: decision 7]

10. Right of withdrawal (consumers in the EU and EEA)

If you are a consumer living in the EU or EEA, you have the right to withdraw from the subscription contract within 14 days without giving any reason.

The withdrawal period ends 14 days after the day the contract was concluded, which is the day you completed checkout.

How to withdraw. Tell us clearly that you want to withdraw. Use any of these:

• the “Withdraw from contract here” function on the public contract page (linked from every page as “Cancel or withdraw”, no sign-in needed), which is available throughout the withdrawal period;
• an email to contact@universalconversion.ch;
• a letter to Universal Conversion, [c/o STREET ADDRESS], [NPA] Fribourg, Switzerland.

You can use the model withdrawal form at the end of these terms, but you don’t have to.

What counts. It is enough to send your message before the 14 days end. When you use the withdrawal function, we’ll confirm receipt by email straight away.

Effects of withdrawal. If you withdraw, we’ll refund all payments received from you without undue delay, and at the latest within 14 days of the day we’re informed of your decision. We’ll use the payment method you used, unless you expressly agree otherwise. You won’t pay any fees for the refund.

[If refund OPTION B applies, add:] If you asked for the service to start during the withdrawal period, you’ll pay an amount in proportion to what was provided until you told us you were withdrawing, compared with the full period. For example, 3 days of a 30-day monthly plan is 3/30 of the monthly price.

Starting straight away. At checkout you ask us to start the subscription immediately, during the withdrawal period. [OPTION A: That doesn’t take away your right of withdrawal, and we refund in full whatever the reason.] [OPTION B: If you withdraw, you pay the proportionate amount described above. You lose the right of withdrawal only once the service has been fully provided.]

11. Changes to the service

The service is software we keep improving. We may add, change or remove features, formats and tools, for example to fix problems or security issues, to keep up with browsers and devices, because a third-party component changes, or for legal reasons, including patents and licences.

If a change during your subscription makes the service clearly worse for you, beyond a minor change, we’ll tell you in advance. You can then end the subscription free of charge within 30 days of the change and get a refund for the unused part of the period you paid for.

This doesn’t limit any right you have under the law of your country.

12. Price changes

A price never changes during a period you’ve paid for, and never by silence.

• When. A new price can apply only from a renewal, and we tell you by email at least 30 days before it (60 days for the yearly plan), with the old and the new price and the reason.
• In the EU, the EEA and the UK, a new price applies only if you accept it, with the button in that email. If you don’t, your plan simply ends at the end of the period you’ve paid for, and you are never charged the new price.
• Everywhere else, you can cancel before the renewal (section 8) and nothing more is charged; if you don’t, the new price applies from that renewal. [CONFIRM with the Swiss lawyer whether Swiss subscribers should be asked as well]

13. Availability

We work to keep the service available, but we don’t guarantee that it will always be available, uninterrupted or free of errors.

Because the work runs on your device, it keeps working even when our server is briefly unreachable, except for the free-limit check, signing in, payments, and the first download of a tool.

We may interrupt the service for maintenance, and we’ll try to keep that short.

14. Suspension and termination

• By you. You may stop using the service and delete your account at any time (sections 3 and 8).
• By us, for misuse. We may suspend or close an account, or block access, only for a serious or repeated breach of section 5 (for example automating requests or creating accounts to get round the free limits, attacking the service, or reselling it), or where the law requires it. We’ll tell you the reason, and where reasonable warn you first and give you a chance to explain. If we close a paid account, we refund the unused part of the period, unless the law allows us to keep it for the breach. [CONFIRM]
• By us, closing the service. We may end the service as a whole with at least [60] days’ notice to subscribers, and refund the unused part of any period paid.

15. Liability

• What we can’t exclude. We’re liable without limit for damage we cause intentionally or through gross negligence, and wherever the law doesn’t allow liability to be limited, including for injury to life, body or health.
• Slight negligence. For slight negligence we’re liable only if we breach an obligation that is essential to the contract (one that makes the service possible at all and that you may rely on), and then only for the damage typical of such a breach and foreseeable when the contract was made. Any further limit applies only as far as the law allows. [CONFIRM: wording under art. 100 of the Swiss Code of Obligations and for EU consumers]
• Your files. We aren’t liable for loss of your files or data on your own device. Keep your originals and backups: we never have a copy that could be restored.
• Mandatory rights. For consumers in the EU or EEA, this section doesn’t limit your legal rights if the service doesn’t conform to the contract, or any other right that the law of your country doesn’t allow to be limited.

16. Changes to these terms

We may update these terms, for example when the service or the law changes.

• For account holders: we’ll email you about important changes at least [30] days before they take effect.
• For subscribers: if you don’t agree, you can cancel before the change applies to you. If the change is to your disadvantage, you can also end the subscription and get a refund for the unused part of the period you paid for.
• Otherwise: the version published on the site applies from its date.

We won’t change the price or reduce the main features of a running subscription by changing these terms, except as sections 11 and 12 allow.

17. Applicable law and courts

• The law. These terms are governed by Swiss law. If you are a consumer, this does not deprive you of the protection of the mandatory law of the country where you habitually live.
• Courts, if you are a consumer: you may sue us in the courts of the country where you live, as well as in Switzerland, and we may sue you only in the courts of the country where you live. Nothing here makes a Swiss court the only one for consumers. [CONFIRM]
• If you use the service for business: the courts of [Fribourg, Canton of Fribourg] have exclusive jurisdiction. [CONFIRM]

18. Other things

• Contract language. The contract is concluded in English. [CONFIRM: whether German/French versions are needed for Swiss consumers]
• Stored terms. We store these terms and send you the version you agreed to, by email, when you subscribe. All versions remain available on request.
• Severability. If a part of these terms is invalid, the rest still applies.
• Transfer. We may transfer this contract to another business that takes over the service, for example a company the operator founds to run it (such as a GmbH/Sàrl), if your rights aren’t reduced. We’ll tell you at least [30] days in advance by email, and you may cancel before the transfer with a refund of the unused part of any period you paid for. [CONFIRM]

How a subscription is concluded

1. Create an account with your email address and a password, and confirm your address from the email we send.
2. Choose a plan: monthly or yearly. The price in your currency is shown before you continue.
3. On our checkout page (“Subscribe”): check what the plan includes, its price per period with taxes, the renewal and how to cancel, all shown directly above the button; accept these terms; tick the box asking us to start the subscription straight away (you keep your right of withdrawal); and press “Subscribe with obligation to pay” (in German “Zahlungspflichtig abonnieren”, in French “S’abonner avec obligation de paiement”). Pressing it is your binding order.
4. Payment. Where the payment form is on our page, the same press sends your payment to Stripe, which may ask your bank to confirm it (3-D Secure). [With Stripe Managed Payments:] Stripe’s secure payment page then opens to take your payment details. The subscription is sold to you through Link, Stripe’s merchant-of-record service, which collects the payment and any VAT or sales tax and sends you the receipt and the invoice; your card statement shows LINK.COM*. We provide the service itself, under these terms. [CONFIRM with EU counsel: the order-button rule and the trader’s identity when Stripe is the seller of record]
5. Confirmation. You return to the site, which shows that your subscription is active, and you receive a confirmation email from us with these terms, and a receipt from Stripe.

You can correct any input error before you press the order button: go back, change the plan, or edit the fields. Until you press it, nothing is ordered or charged.

Model withdrawal form

(Complete and return this form only if you wish to withdraw from the contract.)

— To Universal Conversion, [c/o STREET ADDRESS], [NPA] Fribourg, Switzerland, email: contact@universalconversion.ch:
— I/We (*) hereby give notice that I/We (*) withdraw from my/our (*) contract for the provision of the following service (*): Universal Conversion subscription ([monthly/yearly]),
— Ordered on (*) / received on (*),
— Name of consumer(s),
— Address of consumer(s),
— Signature of consumer(s) (only if this form is notified on paper),
— Date
(*) Delete as appropriate.

[CONFIRM: whether the operator’s own name must appear in this form; it is on the legal notice]

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