PDF to JPG

How to use the PDF to JPG

1. Upload the PDF you want to convert, or drop it on the upload area.
2. Choose JPG or PNG, and a resolution of 1x, 2x or 3x.
3. Convert all pages, or choose Custom Pages and type the ones you need.
4. Select Convert and wait while each page is drawn.
5. Download one image at a time, or all of them as a ZIP.

Supported formats: PDF input; JPG or PNG output.

JPG or PNG: which output to choose

Both formats hold the same drawn page. They differ in how the pixels are stored. JPG is lossy, so it can leave faint blur around sharp edges, and it gives small files for photographs. PNG is lossless, so every pixel is kept exactly, and it gives larger files, especially for scans. Pages are drawn on a white background in both formats.

A scanned page (a full-page photograph)
A dense text page (8 pt text)

JPG 612 KB, PNG 2.6 MB
JPG 753 KB, PNG 783 KB

• The JPG is saved with the browser's own JPEG encoder at a fixed quality setting of 92 out of 100. There is no quality slider, and no other compression is applied.
• The PNG is saved as the browser encodes it, with no extra optimisation. It is lossless, but it is not made small.
• The saving from JPG depends on the page. On the scanned test it was about 4 times smaller than PNG. On the dense text test the two were about the same size, so try both if size matters.
• A scanned PDF is already a photograph. PNG keeps it exactly as scanned and cannot make it sharper.

What 1x, 2x and 3x mean

The resolution setting is a multiplier on the page's size. A PDF page is measured in points, 72 to the inch, and 1x draws one pixel per point. 2x draws two pixels each way, so four times as many pixels, and 3x draws nine times as many as 1x.

1x
2x
3x

JPG 109 KB, PNG 627 KB
JPG 612 KB, PNG 2.6 MB
JPG 1.2 MB, PNG 5.6 MB

• 2x is the default. It is sharp on a screen and for most slides and posts.
• Use 1x for a quick preview or a small thumbnail, and 3x when you need to zoom in or crop.
• 3x is about 216 pixels per inch for the page size, below the 300 commonly asked for in print. The tool does not go higher.
• The size under the settings shows the real pixel size of page 1 for your document, because pages that are not A4 come out at other sizes.
• Pages have a ceiling of about 16.8 megapixels. A very large page, such as a poster, is drawn at a lower scale than you asked for, and the result says so and shows its pixel size.

How page ranges work

To convert selected pages, choose Custom Pages and type page numbers and ranges separated by commas. Spaces are ignored. Page 1 is the first page of the PDF, whatever number is printed on it.

4
1-3, 5, 7-10
5, 1-3, 2

Page 4
Pages 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10
Pages 1, 2, 3, 5

• Pages are always converted in ascending order, and a page named twice is converted once.
• Every entry must be a whole page number or a range from a lower to a higher page. Entries such as 2abc, 1-2-3, 0, 5-3 or a page past the end are refused with a message, and nothing is converted. They are never guessed at.
• A run converts up to 500 pages. For a longer document, convert it in parts, for example 1-500 and then 501-900.

Individual downloads or a ZIP

• Each converted page has its own Download button, and one converted page gets a Download button next to Convert.
• Download All (ZIP) bundles every converted page into one file. The ZIP stores the images as they are, so it is no smaller than the images added together.
• The tool keeps the finished images in your browser's memory until you clear it or convert again. It holds up to 250 MB of images at a time and stops at the last page that fits, keeping the pages already done.
• Stop ends a long conversion and keeps the pages finished so far.

How the images are named

Each image is named after the PDF, the word page and the page number: report.pdf becomes report-page-3.jpg. The number is padded to the width of the document's last page number, so a 12 page document gives report-page-03.jpg. File managers and the ZIP then list the pages in order.

• The number is the real page number, whichever pages you chose, so converting pages 7-9 gives page-07 to page-09.
• The ZIP is named after the PDF and the format, such as report-png-images.zip.
• Letters and digits in any language are kept in the name. Other characters become hyphens.

Converting pages is not extracting images

This tool draws each page, as a viewer would show it, and saves that picture. Text, vector shapes and any photos on the page all become one flat image at the size you chose. It does not pull the original pictures out of the PDF at their original size, and it cannot recover a photo's full resolution.

Choose it when you want the page itself as an image. If you need only the photos from inside a PDF at their original size, this is the wrong tool.

Why the text is no longer selectable

A PDF stores text as characters, with fonts, which is why you can search and select it. An image stores only coloured pixels. When a page is drawn into an image, the letters become pixels like everything else, so the result cannot be searched, selected or read aloud, and links and form fields do not carry over. Keep the original PDF if you may need the text. To take pages out as a PDF instead, use Split PDF.

Privacy, limits and troubleshooting

The conversion runs in your browser, so the PDF is not uploaded. PDF.js is served by WebzTools from its own address the first time it is needed. Only if you download several pages as a ZIP does the page also load the ZIP library from a public CDN, so that step needs an internet connection; neither request includes your file.

• These limits are this tool's own settings, chosen to keep your browser responsive. They are not limits of the PDF, JPG or PNG formats.
• "This PDF is password-protected": remove the password in the app that made the PDF, then try again.
• "Damaged or incomplete": the file is cut off or corrupt. Open it in a PDF viewer, and if it opens there, export or print a fresh copy.
• "Not a PDF": the contents are not a PDF, whatever the name says. This is common with files renamed to .pdf.
• A very large or image-heavy PDF can be slow on a phone. Use 1x, convert fewer pages at a time, or close other tabs.
• If the images are bigger than you want, shrink the JPGs with the JPEG Compressor or the PNGs with the Image Compressor.

Things worth knowing

• Text in the output is no longer selectable or searchable.
• It draws whole pages. It does not extract the pictures stored inside a PDF at their original size.
• Password-protected PDFs cannot be rendered.
• Limits: a 150 MB PDF, 500 pages per run and 250 MB of finished images held at once.
• Very large pages are drawn below the chosen scale to stay within about 16.8 megapixels.

Frequently asked questions

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