Almost nobody needs the file that was uploaded. The photographer delivers a 40-megapixel TIFF; the website needs an 800-pixel JPEG, the deck needs something that will not crash PowerPoint, and the printer needs the original untouched. Conversions produce those outputs on demand from a single stored master, so one asset can serve every destination without anyone keeping parallel copies.
Conversion happens at two moments, and they are easy to confuse because both produce a file that is not the original.
On upload, every asset is processed automatically. Thumbnails and previews are generated so the library can display the asset and so people can look at it without downloading anything. This is what lets you judge a 2GB video in a browser, and it happens without configuration.
On download, conversion is a choice. When someone downloads an asset they can take the original or select a conversion instead, and the file is generated at that moment. This is the conversion people mean when they talk about the feature, and it is the one you configure.
The options offered at download come from conversion profiles set up by an administrator. A profile carries a name and description — what users actually choose from — plus the technical specification:
Profiles also carry visibility and ordering, so the list people see is short and arranged sensibly rather than exhaustive.
The reason to invest in profiles is that they convert specialist knowledge into a menu. "Resize to 1200 pixels wide, 72 DPI, quality 80, save as JPEG" is a set of instructions that some colleagues will follow, some will approximate, and some will ignore in favour of dragging the original into an email. Replace it with a profile named "Web — large" and the specification stops being something people need to know.
Name profiles after the destination rather than the specification. "Email attachment", "Website hero", "Print — A4" tell someone which to pick; "JPEG 1200x800 q80" tells them nothing unless they already understand it, and the people most likely to send a 40MB file to a client are exactly the people who do not.
Conversion options are not necessarily the same for everyone. Profiles can be restricted to particular user groups, so print-resolution output can be offered to the design team and withheld from a wider audience who would only be confused by it. Built-in system conversions can be hidden as well, leaving only the options your organisation wants used.
This is also why a colleague may see conversion options that you do not. If the option is missing entirely, the usual causes are that no profile exists for that file type, that all profiles have been hidden, or that conversion permissions have not been granted.
Every platform wants its own dimensions, and the requirements change often enough that nobody keeps up. Social media conversions address this with presets built around the major platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, X, LinkedIn, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube and Reddit, so an image can be pulled in the right shape for its destination without anyone looking up the current specification.
Social media conversions are currently in beta. If they are not visible in your workspace, ask your administrator or Data Dwell support.
Converting produces a new file for download. The stored asset remains exactly as it was uploaded, at full quality, whatever conversions people take from it.
This matters more than it first appears. The alternative pattern — downloading a master, resizing it locally, and uploading the result as a new asset — is how libraries fill with near-identical files nobody can tell apart, and how the actual master eventually gets lost among its own derivatives. Because converted files are generated on demand and kept only temporarily, they never accumulate in the library at all.
Rather than designing profiles in the abstract, start from what people already ask for. The requests your design team fields repeatedly — a web version, something small enough to email, a print-ready file — are your first three profiles, and they will cover most of the demand.
Keep the list short. A menu of twenty options is a decision people are not equipped to make, and it pushes them back towards taking the original because at least that choice is obvious. Add a profile when a real need appears, and hide the ones nobody picks.
If you need a conversion that is not offered, your administrator can add a profile for it.