Welcome to the WhatsMyBitrate Privacy Policy

1. About WhatsMyBitrate

a. WhatsMyBitrate provides a free audio analysis tool. Our website and the analysis services offered through it are referred to collectively in this Privacy Policy as the "Services." When we refer to "WhatsMyBitrate," "we," "us," or "our," we mean the operator of whatsmybitrate.com, which acts as the data controller of the personal data collected when you use the Services.

b. This Privacy Policy is meant to help you understand what information we collect, why we collect it, and what we do with it. By accessing or using the Services, you acknowledge that you have read and understood this Privacy Policy.

2. Our Commitment

a. Our commitment is to collect as little information as possible. We strive to be transparent about the limited data practices of the Services, to process your audio files only as needed to deliver the analysis you request, and to provide you meaningful choices.

b. The source code for the analysis software is publicly available on GitHub, where the file-handling practices described in this Privacy Policy may be independently reviewed.

3. Information Collection and Use

a. Audio Files You Submit. When you submit an audio file for analysis, the file is transmitted to our server and stored temporarily for the sole purpose of performing the requested analysis, which may include reading embedded metadata, decoding audio data, measuring frequency content, and rendering an optional spectrogram. Upon completion of the analysis, the submitted file is permanently deleted from our systems. We do not retain copies of submitted audio files, and we do not sell, license, distribute, or otherwise disclose them to any third party.

b. Information You Provide to Us. If you submit a message through our contact form, we collect the name, email address, and message content you provide for the sole purpose of responding to your inquiry. Contact form submissions are not used for marketing purposes and are not added to mailing lists.

c. Device and Usage Information. We use Google Analytics (measurement ID G-8V59RSJG62), a web analytics service provided by Google LLC, to collect standard usage information about how visitors interact with the Services. This information may include pages visited, session duration, approximate geographic location, browser type, device type, and referring URLs. This information does not include the contents of your audio files.

d. Information from Cookies and Similar Technologies. Cookies used on this website are limited to those set by the third-party services described in this Privacy Policy (Google Analytics and Google AdSense) and by Cloudflare Turnstile, which protects our contact form from automated abuse. We do not operate first-party tracking cookies of our own.

4. How We Share This Information

We do not sell your personal information. We share information only in the following limited circumstances:

a. With Service Providers. We rely on a small number of third parties to operate the Services: Google Analytics (usage analytics), Google AdSense (advertising), and Cloudflare Turnstile (abuse prevention on the contact form). These providers process information in accordance with their own privacy policies.

b. For Legal Purposes. We may access, preserve, and disclose information if we believe in good faith that it is necessary to comply with applicable law, regulation, legal process, or an enforceable governmental request, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of WhatsMyBitrate, our users, or the public.

c. New Ownership. If the ownership or control of all or part of the Services changes as a result of a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, information we hold may be transferred to the new owner, subject to the commitments in this Privacy Policy.

5. Advertising

a. The Services display advertising served by Google AdSense (publisher ID ca-pub-7661783991682313). Google and its partners may use cookies and similar technologies to serve advertisements based on your prior visits to this or other websites.

b. You may opt out of personalized advertising by visiting Google's Ads Settings. If you opt out, you will continue to see ads, but they may be less relevant to you.

c. California residents: please see Section 10 for information about your right to opt out of the "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as defined under California law.

6. Information Security and Data Retention

a. We maintain technical and organizational safeguards to help protect information processed through the Services, including encrypted transmission via HTTPS. However, no method of transmission over the Internet or method of electronic storage can be guaranteed to be secure.

b. Submitted audio files are retained only for the duration necessary to complete the requested analysis and are then permanently deleted. Contact form correspondence is retained only as long as necessary to address your inquiry. Information collected by Google Analytics and Google AdSense is retained in accordance with Google's own data retention policies.

7. Protecting Children's Privacy

The Services are intended for a general audience and are not directed to children. We do not knowingly collect, use, or share information that could reasonably be used to identify children under the age of 13 (or under the applicable minimum age in your jurisdiction) without prior parental consent or consistent with applicable law. If you believe that a child has provided us with personal information, please contact us so that we can take appropriate action.

8. Data Processing and Transfers

When you use or interact with the Services, information may be processed in countries other than your own, including the United States, where our servers and service providers are located. These countries may have different data protection laws than the country where you reside. By using the Services, you consent to the transfer, processing, and storage of your information as described in this Privacy Policy.

9. Your Privacy Rights (EEA, UK, and Switzerland)

If you are located in the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom, or Switzerland, you have certain rights under applicable data protection law, subject to the conditions set out in that law:

a. Legal Bases. We mainly rely on two bases to lawfully process your information. First, we process the audio files you submit as necessary to provide the Services to you, in accordance with our Terms & Conditions — this processing is necessary to perform the contract between you and us. Second, in certain cases we process limited information where necessary for the purposes of our legitimate interests (such as keeping the Services secure and preventing abuse), where those interests are not overridden by your rights. Where required by law, we rely on your consent.

b. Your Rights. You have the right to request access to, rectification of, or erasure of your personal data; to restrict or object to certain processing; and to data portability. Given the nature of the Services — submitted audio files are deleted immediately after analysis, and we maintain no user accounts — we generally hold little to no personal data about you. You also have the right to lodge a complaint with your local data protection authority.

c. Exercising Your Rights. You may exercise any of these rights by contacting us through our contact page.

10. Your California Privacy Rights

If you are a California resident, the California Consumer Privacy Act, as amended by the California Privacy Rights Act ("CCPA"), provides you with specific rights regarding your personal information:

a. Right to Know and Delete. You have the right to request that we disclose the categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, and to request deletion of your personal information, subject to certain exceptions under applicable law.

b. Right to Opt Out of Sale or Sharing. We do not sell your personal information for monetary consideration. However, the use of third-party advertising cookies (Google AdSense) may constitute a "sale" or "sharing" of personal information as those terms are defined under the CCPA. You may opt out of this by enabling the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal in your browser, which we honor, or by adjusting your cookie preferences through your browser settings or an ad blocker.

c. Right to Non-Discrimination. We will not discriminate against you for exercising any of your CCPA rights.

d. Notice at Collection. The categories of personal information we may collect are: identifiers you provide through the contact form (name, email address) and internet or electronic network activity information collected via cookies and similar technologies by our analytics and advertising providers. We collect this information for the purposes described in Section 3, and we do not retain audio files beyond the completion of your requested analysis.

11. Other Important Information

This Privacy Policy applies only to WhatsMyBitrate. It does not apply to the practices of companies that we do not own or control, or to third-party websites that may be linked from the Services. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of any third-party sites you visit.

12. Changes

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time, so you should check it periodically. If we make changes that are material, we will provide you with appropriate notice before such changes take effect. Any changes will be posted on this page with a revised "Last updated" date.

13. Questions & Suggestions

If you have questions, suggestions, or wish to make a complaint about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, please contact us through the contact page.