feat(FileConverter): initial implementation of context menu file conversion (seeking feedback)

[Pikachu-5]

Summary of the Pull Request

This PR introduces an initial implementation of a FileConverter module for PowerToys, including context menu integration, build setup, and module wiring.

I worked on this on my own to try and move the feature forward and make something concrete that could be reviewed. I didn’t get prior approval before starting, so I completely understand if changes or direction adjustments are needed.

I had commented on #36807 earlier but didn’t get a response, so I went ahead and built a working version.

Related issues:

• Feature Request: Power File Converter Tool #36807
• Would like something to convert an image's file extension to something else #44771

---

PR Checklist

• Closes: Feature Request: Power File Converter Tool #36807
• Closes: Would like something to convert an image's file extension to something else #44771
• Communication: Not discussed with core contributors beforehand
• Tests: Manually validated + smoke test updated
• Localization: Strings are resource-backed
• New binaries: Added where required
  • JSON for signing
  • WXS for installer
  • YML for CI
  • YML for release
• Documentation updated: Not required for now (can add if needed)

---

What this PR does

• Adds a working FileConverter flow through the Windows context menu
• Sets up the module structure and integrates it into the build system
• Centralizes constants (pipe names, JSON keys, format tokens)
• Adds localization support using .resw
• Cleans up and stabilizes the conversion engine
• Improves the smoke test so it works reliably on modern Windows

Right now, this supports image conversion only.
If this direction is accepted, I was planning to extend it to:

• Documents (PDF, MD, DOCX)
• Media encoding (possibly reusing logic from Advanced Paste)

---

How it works (quick overview)

• Context menu uses IExplorerCommand with a parent entry + subcommands
• Selected files are passed via JSON over a named pipe
• Module interface validates and dispatches the request
• Conversion is handled using WIC (PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, HEIF, WebP)

One important fix:

• Avoided using ResourceLoader in the constructor to prevent a startup crash

I have attached a video for reference:

video.mp4

---

Validation

• Built all FileConverter components (Debug x64)
• Confirmed PowerToys launches without crashing
• Ran smoke test → output file successfully created
• Verified fallback COM path works when verbs aren’t exposed

You can also just:

• Right click an image → use FileConverter → check output file

---

Notes / Trade-offs

• Startup uses fallback strings instead of early localization (done to avoid crash risk)
• Smoke test includes a COM fallback because Shell.Application is unreliable on newer Windows context menus

---

Files changed

• dllmain.cpp (context menu + module interface)
• FileConversionEngine.cpp / .h
• Constants.h (new)
• Project files (.vcxproj)
• Resources.resw
• run-shell-verb-smoke.ps1

---

What reviewers should focus on

• Constructor safety (startup stability)
• Context menu eligibility + payload handling
• Conversion engine error handling
• Smoke test fallback logic
• Localization completeness

---

Moderator Verification Plan

Run these in order from repo root.

1. Build FileConverterLib

• build.cmd -Path src\modules\FileConverter\FileConverterLib -Configuration Debug -Platform x64

2. Build FileConverterContextMenu

• build.cmd -Path src\modules\FileConverter\FileConverterContextMenu -Configuration Debug -Platform x64

3. Build FileConverterModuleInterface

• build.cmd -Path src\modules\FileConverter\FileConverterModuleInterface -Configuration Debug -Platform x64

4. Register context-menu package

• pwsh -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File pack-contextmenu-msix.ps1 -Platform x64 -Configuration Debug -UseDevIdentity -DevPublisher "CN=PowerToys-Dev" -CreateDevCertificate -SignPackage -RegisterPackage

5. Launch Runner

• PowerToys.exe
• Expected: process stays running.

6. Run smoke

• pwsh -NoProfile -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File run-shell-verb-smoke.ps1
• Expected:
• Either direct verb invoke success, or
• Verb not found followed by fallback invoke success
• Output file created at sample_converted.png

7. Optional sanity

• Verify created file exists and nonzero size.
• Confirm no new crash dump generated for PowerToys.exe during launch.

[Pikachu-5]

@microsoft-github-policy-service agree

[Pikachu-5]

Hello. I understand that this wasn’t discussed beforehand.

But seeing many issues talking about it and no one taking on the job, i decided to work on it myself. I’m happy to:

• adjust the approach
• split the PR
• or align with suggested design

Looking forward to your feedback

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

Initial end-to-end implementation of a new FileConverter PowerToys module, adding a File Explorer context-menu entry that sends selected files to the Runner via a named pipe and performs image format conversion via WIC, with Settings UI integration and verification scripts.

Changes:

• Wires a new FileConverter module into Runner (module loading + settings window routing) and Settings UI (navigation + enable toggle).
• Adds FileConverter module components: conversion engine (WIC), module interface (pipe listener/dispatcher), and context-menu COM server (IExplorerCommand + legacy IContextMenu).
• Adds packaging/verification scripts (sparse package MSIX packing + smoke/negative tests) and module/localization resources.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 38 out of 47 changed files in this pull request and generated 9 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
tools/Verification scripts/FileConverter/phase6-format-matrix-smoke.ps1	Adds a format matrix smoke test that exercises multiple destinations via the named pipe.
tools/Verification scripts/FileConverter/phase3-queue-smoke.ps1	Adds a queueing smoke test sending multiple requests to the named pipe.
tools/Verification scripts/FileConverter/negative-pipe-smoke.ps1	Adds negative test cases for malformed/invalid pipe payloads.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/ViewModels/FileConverterViewModel.cs	Adds Settings UI ViewModel to toggle FileConverter enabled state via general settings IPC.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/Strings/en-us/Resources.resw	Adds Settings UI strings for FileConverter module title and shell navigation label.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/SettingsXAML/Views/ShellPage.xaml	Adds FileConverter entry to the Settings navigation view.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/SettingsXAML/Views/FileConverterPage.xaml.cs	Adds Settings page code-behind for FileConverter (view model wiring + refresh hook).
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/SettingsXAML/Views/FileConverterPage.xaml	Adds Settings page UI for enabling FileConverter.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/SettingsXAML/App.xaml.cs	Adds Settings page routing for “FileConverter”.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI/Helpers/ModuleGpoHelper.cs	Adds module type mapping for FileConverter (GPO unavailable + page type).
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI.Library/Helpers/ModuleHelper.cs	Adds FileConverter module icon mapping, enablement mapping, and module key mapping.
src/settings-ui/Settings.UI.Library/EnabledModules.cs	Adds FileConverter enable flag to General Settings enabled-modules model.
src/runner/settings_window.h	Adds FileConverter to the settings window enum.
src/runner/settings_window.cpp	Adds string <-> enum conversion for FileConverter settings window name.
src/runner/powertoy_module.cpp	Adjusts module DLL loading to retry with an exe-relative path when LoadLibrary fails.
src/runner/main.cpp	Adds FileConverter module interface DLL to the known modules list.
src/modules/FileConverter/Strings/en-us/Resources.resw	Adds FileConverter module strings (context menu labels + error text + engine messages).
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterModuleInterface/pch.h	Adds PCH for the module interface project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterModuleInterface/pch.cpp	Adds PCH translation unit for the module interface project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterModuleInterface/FileConverterModuleInterface.vcxproj	Adds build project for the module interface DLL.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterModuleInterface/dllmain.cpp	Implements module interface: context menu registration + named pipe listener + dispatch to conversion engine.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/pch.h	Adds PCH for the conversion library project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/pch.cpp	Adds PCH translation unit for the conversion library project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/FileConverterLib.vcxproj	Adds static library project for the conversion engine/constants.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/FileConversionEngine.h	Declares WIC-based conversion API + format enum + result structure.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/FileConversionEngine.cpp	Implements WIC decoder/encoder conversion logic and encoder availability checks.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterLib/Constants.h	Adds shared constants for pipe name, JSON keys, format tokens, and extensions.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Source.def	Exports COM entrypoints for the context menu DLL.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/run-shell-verb-smoke.ps1	Adds smoke test to invoke the context menu verb (Shell.Application + IExplorerCommand fallback).
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/pch.h	Adds PCH for the context menu project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/pch.cpp	Adds PCH translation unit for the context menu project.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/pack-contextmenu-msix.ps1	Adds packaging/signing/registration script for the sparse MSIX context menu package.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/framework.h	Adds context menu project includes for COM/shell APIs.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/FileConverterContextMenu.vcxproj	Adds build project for the context menu COM server DLL and assets/manifest inputs.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/dllmain.cpp	Implements IExplorerCommand-based context menu with subcommands and pipe payload emission.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/Wide310x150Logo.png	Adds sparse package tile asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/storelogo.png	Adds sparse package store logo asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/Square44x44Logo.png	Adds sparse package tile asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/Square150x150Logo.png	Adds sparse package tile asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/SplashScreen.png	Adds sparse package splash asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/SmallTile.png	Adds sparse package tile asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/Assets/FileConverter/LargeTile.png	Adds sparse package tile asset.
src/modules/FileConverter/FileConverterContextMenu/AppxManifest.xml	Adds sparse package manifest for Win11 context menu registration.
src/common/ManagedCommon/ModuleType.cs	Adds FileConverter to the shared module type enum.
PowerToys.slnx	Adds FileConverter projects to the solution build/dependency graph.
doc/images/disk-usage/add_remove_size_v0.66_converted.jpeg	Adds a converted JPEG image under docs (appears unrelated to FileConverter feature).

[jiripolasek]

Hi @Pikachu-5,

• 🚧 Would you like to contribute to PowerToys? 🚧 #28769
• https://github.com/microsoft/PowerToys/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md

[Pikachu-5]

Hey, thanks for pointing me to this.

Yes, I realize I should’ve discussed it first. I mostly built this to try out the idea and see if it’s actually workable.

I’m happy to move the discussion to the issue or adjust this PR however you’d prefer. Just let me know what makes the most sense from your side.

[Pikachu-5]

Ready for review! I've fixed the issues Copilot caught and did a bit of housecleaning. I realized I mistakenly committed the nlohmann library headers in the previous commit, so I've stripped those out to keep the PR focused. Everything should be good to go now!