Chevereto 4.3 is a milestone that feels both personal and historic. When I look back at where this project started: A flash uploader with a 2MB file limit. It's almost surreal to see us now uploading a full-length 1.8GB movie in 80 seconds flat on an entry-level machine. This release is the first truly built for heavy load, and it’s a leap that opens Chevereto to a whole new world of demanding media use cases.

Why 4.3 matters

The journey to 4.3 began with the introduction of video support in Chevereto 4.1. It quickly became clear that, while the underlying technology for images and video was similar, video’s sheer size and complexity demanded a new approach. Images are one thing, but high-quality, lengthy videos and hi-res drone imagery are another beast entirely. We needed chunked uploads which a way to process files in pieces, not all at once. This was essential not just for performance, but for reliability and scalability as we move toward our cloud offering.

Key improvements

• Chunked Uploads: This is the star of 4.3. On the client side, we use the file stream API; on the server, raw input reading. The result is memory-efficient and fast uploads for even the biggest files.
• Application Layer Cache (Redis): By introducing Redis-backed caching, we’ve slashed database hits and made the app faster than ever. This is crucial as we scale up to serve more users and heavier workloads.
• Lossless Metadata Handling: For photographers and creatives, preserving (or precisely removing) metadata is a must. 4.3 delivers pixel-perfect EXIF removal and auto-orientation, ensuring your work is showcased exactly as intended.

The challenges

Supporting big file uploads required more than just chunked uploading. We had to rethink file checksums, migrating from MD5 to xxHash64 to a WASM module made browser-side hashing blazingly fast. The entire stack needed reworking: application-level caching, client-side stream chunking, and server-side file assembly. Every layer got refined to handle the load.

The first time we tested a big file upload on the demo site was unforgettable. From humble beginnings to uploading a 1.8GB movie in 80 seconds—it was a moment that captured just how far Chevereto has come.

Performance

This release included a significant performance review, and the results speak for themselves: Chevereto is more responsive, leaner on resources, and ready for a broader range of use cases. The community response has been positive, though it's still early days to see the full impact. What's clear is that video support is already driving increased storage demand, and with chunked uploads removing the last major barrier, I expect this trend to accelerate significantly.

What’s next

We need to address the distribution of Chevereto as a service, making it easier for users to access and benefit from our platform without the overhead of self-hosting. This means focusing on our cloud infrastructure, refining our multitenancy features, and ensuring that Chevereto can scale seamlessly to meet the needs of a growing user base.