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Zeitgeist — a spike by Chris Gathercole
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  2. Simon Willison — Creator of Datasette; co-creator of Django/

Video compressor

Blog · Watch/Read · (gathered 2026-09-10)

  • Simon Willison developed a browser-based “Video compressor” tool that performs all video processing locally using FFmpeg compiled to WebAssembly, prioritizing user privacy by avoiding external server uploads.
  • The tool allows users to upload a video and generate multiple encoded versions with different quality settings and output sizes, then compare and download the smallest suitable file directly from their browser.
  • This project demonstrates the practical application of AI-assisted development, as Simon had “Claude Fable 5.1 in Claude Code for web” build the tool to optimize a demo video for his blog.