Cookies are small files a site stores on your device. We use them to run the site, and — only with your consent — to understand usage. Our free tools also carry advertising, which is what pays for them; your consent decides whether those ads are personalized, not whether they appear. This page explains what gets set and how you stay in control.
Cookies we use
| Type | Purpose | Consent |
|---|---|---|
| Essential | Security and core site function — remembering your cookie choice and your light/dark theme, and Google reCAPTCHA’s bot check on the contact form. | Always on — no consent needed |
| Analytics | Google Analytics 4 — understand how the site is used (pages, sessions). Sets _ga / _gid cookies. | Opt-in — off until you accept |
| Advertising | Google AdSense — shows ads on our free tools at programs.fndry39.com only. Google may set cookies to select, deliver, and measure ads. | Always on — personalization is opt-in |
We use Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for analytics and Google AdSense for advertising (on the Programs tools only). They work differently on purpose. GA4 loads only after you accept — until then no analytics script runs and no _ga cookie is set. AdSense runs either way, because the ads are what keep the tools free; what your choice controls is whether Google may personalize them. Refuse and Google picks an ad from the page you are reading rather than from anything it knows about you. The two are separate choices: the banner offers “Accept all”, “Reject optional”, and “Customize”, where you can switch analytics and personalized ads on or off independently.
Specific cookies & providers
- Essential — us:
fndry39_consentremembers your cookie choice (~6 months), andfndry39_themeremembers a light/dark theme if you pick one with the toggle (~12 months — it holds the word “light” or “dark” and nothing else, is never set until you choose, and applies across fndry39.com and programs.fndry39.com so you only choose once). These are the only cookies we set ourselves — there are no accounts on this site and no sign-in cookies. - Security — Google reCAPTCHA (contact page only):
_GRECAPTCHA, set by Google when the contact form loads, so it can tell a person from a bot (~6 months). We class this as essential rather than analytics: without it the form is open to automated abuse, and it runs on no other page. It is not used to profile you and not used for advertising, and we receive only a pass or a fail. If you would rather not load it at all, email us instead — the address is on the contact page and reaches the same inbox. - Analytics — Google (only after consent):
_gaand_ga_<id>distinguish users (~2 years);_gid(~24 hours). We enable IP anonymization. - Advertising — Google AdSense (Programs tools only; always on, personalization optional): Google and its certified ad partners may set cookies (for example
__gads,__gpi, and DoubleClick’sIDE) to show ads, cap how often you see the same one, measure performance, and — where you have allowed it — personalize them. These are third-party cookies set from Google’s domains, so turning personalization off here stops Google choosing ads from a profile, but it does not stop ads appearing and does not delete cookies Google has already set; you can manage those at adssettings.google.com and read how Google uses this data at policies.google.com/technologies/partner-sites. You can also opt out of personalized advertising across many networks at aboutads.info/choices (or youronlinechoices.eu in Europe).
Our free tools under FNDRY39 Programs (including the media converter) set no cookies of their own and store nothing between visits — files are processed in your browser’s memory and are gone when you leave. The Programs pages are where the advertising described above appears — ads are how the free tools stay free — and nothing about your files (not names, not types, not sizes) is ever shared with an ad network. On this site your consent choice above covers the tools too; if you use them at programs.fndry39.com, your browser keeps that subdomain’s choice separately, so you’ll be asked once there as well.
A few of the report tools can hand their findings to an AI assistant if you ask them to. That sets no cookie here and reads none — it opens someone else’s site in a new tab, where their cookies and their policy apply. Our Privacy Policy explains what goes with it, and the tool shows you the exact text before you send it.
Your control (Quebec Law 25 / GDPR)
You choose, per category, and you can change your mind at any time. “Accept”, “Reject”, and “Customize” are offered equally, no analytics and no ad personalization happen before you opt in, and the Customize toggles start switched off for a first-time visitor. The one thing that is not a choice is whether the free tools carry ads at all: they do, because otherwise they would not exist. Refusing turns them into plain contextual ads — it does not turn them off, and we would rather say so than pretend the switch does more than it does.
Questions
Email privacy@fndry39.com. See also our Privacy Policy.