Parallel Media Encoder Parallel Media Encoder

Privacy Policy

Effective October 9, 2026

This policy describes how 1001261179 ONTARIO INC. ("we," "us," "our"), operating as Parallel Media Encoder, collects, uses, and protects your information when you use our website at parallelmediaencoder.com and our macOS application.

Information We Collect

Website

When you visit our website, we may collect the following information only with your consent:

  • Analytics data: Page views, session duration, device and browser information, and approximate geographic region, collected via Google Analytics 4.
  • Behavioral data: Session recordings, heatmaps, and click patterns, collected via HotJar (Contentsquare) to improve page usability.

We also collect information you voluntarily provide:

  • Contact form submissions: Your name, email address, and message content when you use the contact form. For volume and education licensing requests, also the organisation name and number of Macs you choose to give.
  • Purchases: When you buy Pro on our website, Stripe gives us your name, email address, company (if given), country and the amount paid. We also record which page or app screen the purchase started from and the site or campaign that first referred you.

Application

  • License activation and validation: When you activate a Pro license in the app or with pme license activate, the app sends our license server: the license key; a machine identifier, which is a one-way SHA-256 hash of your Mac's hardware UUID (the UUID itself is not sent); your Mac's computer name (as set in System Settings → General → Sharing), its model identifier (for example Mac16,9) and macOS version; the app version; and the version of the License Terms accepted on that Mac. It sends the same information again each time the app or its background service starts and about once a day while it runs, to renew the Mac's license, when you choose Check Now in Settings → License, and when you deactivate the license. Our server stores the key encrypted, so we can send it to you again, together with the other details, the country derived from your connection, the times each Mac activated, last checked in and was deactivated, and a hash of your IP address combined with a secret value (not the address itself). These records are linked to the license and to the customer it was issued to: name, company and email address, and for invoiced purchases the invoice reference. If your key was bought on Gumroad, our server confirms it with Gumroad when it first sees it and at most once a day after that, and keeps the buyer name, email address and sale details from Gumroad's reply.
  • Older app versions: Versions before 1.147.02 send the license key to Gumroad instead, and after each successful check send our server a one-way fingerprint of the key, the app version and the event type, stored with the date, country and user-agent.
  • Update checks: The app checks for updates by fetching our update feed from a Cloudflare server. Update checks are served from cache and are not recorded per user.
  • License Terms acceptance: When you accept the License Terms in the app or with pme terms accept, the app stores the terms version, date, document checksum, and which button or command recorded it on your Mac. Only the terms version leaves your Mac: our license server receives it with each Pro license activation and renewal described above, and a problem report you choose to send includes it.
  • No usage analytics: The app does not collect usage analytics or crash reports, and never transmits your media, file paths, encoding settings, or presets, except in a problem report you choose to send.
  • Problem reports: You can report a problem from Help → Report a Problem, with pme report, or by letting an AI assistant connected through PME's MCP server open a report for you. The app shows exactly what it will send and sends nothing until you press Send (or type "send" in Terminal). A report contains your description, your PME and macOS versions, your Mac's model, chip and memory, your license tier, the settings, errors, warnings and audit results of the jobs it concerns, and their log lines. File and folder names are replaced by placeholders unless you choose to include file names; folder paths are never included. Your email address is included only if you type it. Reports never contain your media, and the app never sends one on its own. We store each report with a one-way hash of the sending IP address, used only to limit abuse.
  • Voluntary diagnostic logs: If you contact us for support, you may also choose to share diagnostic logs through the contact page.
  • MCP server (optional): If you connect an AI client to PME's local MCP server, PME returns tool results to that client on your Mac when it calls a PME tool. Results can include file paths and names, technical metadata, presets, hardware details, your license tier, job state, output paths and errors. When the assistant calls pme_grab_frame, results also include still frames of the clip as downscaled JPEG images. Full media files and audio are never included. We do not receive or store MCP prompts, requests or results, but your AI client may send them, frames included, to its model provider, where that provider's privacy policy and data controls apply. See Data Security for details.

How We Use Your Information

  • Website analytics: To understand traffic patterns and improve the site experience.
  • Behavioral analytics: To identify usability issues and improve page layouts.
  • Contact form data: To respond to your inquiry or support request.
  • Purchase data: To issue and email your license key, keep your license record, provide support and refunds, and understand which pages and campaigns lead to purchases.
  • License activation and validation: To confirm that a license is valid on a Mac, to apply the number of Macs it covers, to show which Macs use a license so one can be released (for example when a Mac is replaced), to detect key sharing beyond the licensed number of Macs, and to see which app versions are in use.
  • Problem reports and diagnostic logs: Solely to find and fix the issues you report, and to reply if you included an email address.

Third-Party Services

We rely on the following third-party services, each with their own privacy policies:

  • Google Analytics 4: Website analytics. Google Privacy Policy
  • Google Ads: Conversion tracking. Google Privacy Policy
  • YouTube (Google): Our product video. The player loads from youtube-nocookie.com only when you click play; until then the page shows an image from our own server. Google Privacy Policy
  • HotJar / Contentsquare: Behavioral analytics. HotJar Privacy Policy
  • Stripe and Link: Checkout and payment processing for purchases on our website. Link, a Stripe company, is the merchant of record for those purchases: it collects sales tax, VAT or GST and sends your receipt. We receive your name, email address, company, country and order details, not your payment details. Stripe Privacy Policy and Link Privacy Policy
  • Gumroad: Payment processing for earlier online purchases, and confirmation of license keys bought there (by our license server; by the app itself in versions before 1.147.02). Gumroad Privacy Policy
  • Cloudflare: Website hosting, bot protection, update distribution, our license server and its records, license activation statistics from older app versions, and problem report storage. Cloudflare Privacy Policy
  • Resend: Email delivery for contact form messages and problem reports sent to us. Resend Privacy Policy

Cookies and Tracking

Our website uses a cookie consent manager. On your first visit, you will be asked to choose which categories of cookies to allow:

  • Essential: Required for basic site functionality. No tracking cookies are set in this category.
  • Analytics: Google Analytics and Google Ads conversion tracking.
  • Behavioral: HotJar session recordings and heatmaps.

You can change your preferences at any time by clicking "Cookie Preferences" in the site footer. Your consent choice is stored in your browser's local storage and is not transmitted to our servers.

Data Retention

  • Website analytics: Retained per Google Analytics' default retention settings.
  • Contact form submissions: Retained as long as needed to respond to your inquiry.
  • License records (keys, customers, Macs and their activity): Kept while the license exists, so it can be validated, moved to another Mac and re-sent, and afterwards until you ask us to delete them.
  • License activation events from older app versions: The hashed records described above are kept until you ask us to delete them.
  • Problem reports: Deleted automatically 90 days after they arrive.
  • Diagnostic logs: Retained only for the duration of the troubleshooting process, then deleted.

Your Rights

You have the right to:

  • Request access to or deletion of any personal data we hold about you.
  • Withdraw your cookie consent at any time via the "Cookie Preferences" link in the footer.
  • Opt out of analytics tracking by using a browser extension or disabling cookies.
  • See which Macs use your license, and have one released. Email us with the license key or your invoice reference.
  • Have your license records deleted. Email us with your license key or invoice reference; deleting the records of a license that is still in use ends it.

For data access or deletion requests, contact us at [email protected]. We comply with Canada's Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents Act (PIPEDA).

Children's Privacy

Our website and application are not directed at children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy from time to time. The effective date at the top of this page will reflect the most recent revision. Continued use of the website or application after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact

If you have questions about this privacy policy, please contact us: