How to convert a PDF to JPG
- Drop one or more PDF files onto the box above, or click it (or move to it with the Tab key and press Enter) to open the file picker. Each file is opened in your browser and listed with its page count. If a PDF asks for a password, type it in the box that appears; it is used only to open the file on your device.
- Choose the pages. Leave the Pages box empty to convert the whole document, or type a range such as
1-3,5,8-, which means pages 1 to 3, page 5 and everything from page 8 to the end. When you add several PDFs, the same range is applied to each of them. - Pick JPG or PNG and a resolution. 150 DPI is the default and works well for email, web forms and reading on screen; 300 DPI is meant for printing; 72 DPI gives quick, small previews. You can also enter any value from 36 to 600 DPI.
- For JPG, move the quality slider if you need smaller or crisper files. The line under the options tells you how many images you will get, the pixel size of the first page and a rough estimate of the total size.
- Press Convert. Pages are processed one after another with a progress bar, and you can cancel at any time. Download single images from their previews, or save everything at once with Download all as ZIP. Files are named like
report-page-001.jpg, so they stay in page order in any folder.
PDF to JPG or PDF to PNG: which one should you choose?
Both formats store a picture of the page made of pixels, but they compress that picture in very different ways, and the right choice depends on where the image is going next.
JPG uses lossy compression. It throws away detail that the eye barely notices, which is why a full page of text at 150 DPI usually ends up at a few hundred kilobytes. The price is a faint haze or "ringing" around sharp edges such as letters and table lines, which becomes visible when the quality is set low. JPG also has no transparency, so every page gets a solid background. Because every phone, browser, email client, office suite and upload form understands JPG, it is the safest format for sharing.
PNG is lossless: every pixel is stored exactly as it was drawn, so small print, fine lines, signatures and QR codes stay perfectly crisp. PNG can also keep transparent areas, which is handy when a PDF contains a logo or a diagram you want to place on a colored slide. For clean text pages on a white background, PNG files can be surprisingly compact, but for scanned documents and photo-heavy pages they are often several times larger than the JPG version.
- Choose JPG for email attachments, job and school applications, chat apps, social media posts and anything with a file size limit.
- Choose PNG for screenshots of documents you will edit, slides and presentations, diagrams with thin lines, images you plan to run through text recognition, and logos that need a transparent background.
Choosing the right DPI
DPI, short for dots per inch, decides how many pixels each inch of the PDF page becomes. PDF pages are measured in points, 72 to the inch, so the pixel size of the image is simply the page width and height in inches multiplied by the DPI you choose. Here is what that means for the two most common paper sizes:
- US Letter (8.5 × 11 in)72 DPI: 612 × 792 px · 150 DPI: 1,275 × 1,650 px · 300 DPI: 2,550 × 3,300 px
- A4 (8.27 × 11.69 in)72 DPI: 595 × 842 px · 150 DPI: 1,240 × 1,754 px · 300 DPI: 2,480 × 3,508 px
Doubling the DPI makes four times as many pixels, and file size and memory use grow at roughly the same rate. That is why it pays to choose the lowest setting that still does the job:
- 72 DPI is enough for thumbnails, quick previews and slides where the page is shown small.
- 150 DPI keeps normal body text sharp on laptop and phone screens and is the sweet spot for email and online forms.
- 200 DPI, entered as a custom value, helps when a page has very small print, such as footnotes or the fine print of a contract, that people will zoom into.
- 300 DPI is the usual standard for printing at the original paper size and for text recognition (OCR) software.
- Above 300 DPI is rarely useful except for detailed maps, technical drawings or archive copies of line art.
The converter also writes the chosen DPI into each image file, as the density field of a JPG and the physical size chunk of a PNG. Print dialogs and word processors that read this value will place the image at the size of the original page instead of guessing.
Getting the file size right for email and upload forms
The most common reason to turn a PDF into pictures is a website that only accepts JPG, or an email that has to stay under a size limit. Many email services cap a message at about 20 to 25 MB, and attachments are encoded on the way, which makes them roughly a third larger than the file on your disk. Online applications for jobs, schools, rentals or insurance claims are usually stricter and often allow only a few megabytes per file, sometimes less than one. Always read the form's own instructions, because limits differ from site to site and change over time.
A practical approach is to start with JPG at 150 DPI and 85% quality, which gives most text pages a size in the low hundreds of kilobytes. If the result is still too large, lower the quality to around 70% first, since that saves a lot of space while text stays readable. If you need to go further, reduce the resolution to 120 or 100 DPI with the custom setting. Going much below 100 DPI makes small print hard to read, so for a very strict limit such as 50 KB, keep the DPI reasonable and squeeze the finished image with the Compress Image to 50 KB tool instead. Converting only the pages the form actually asks for, for example just the signature page, keeps the job small as well.
Very large pages and long documents
Browsers limit how large a single drawing surface, called a canvas, can be. Most desktop browsers stop at roughly 268 million pixels per image, while iPhones and iPads allow far less, about 16.7 million. To stay on the safe side in every browser, the converter also keeps each image within 16,384 pixels per side. A poster, a large architectural plan or a wide spreadsheet export can exceed those numbers at 300 DPI. Instead of failing, the converter checks the size of every page before drawing it, lowers the resolution for that page only, and tells you in the result which DPI it actually used.
Long documents are handled one page at a time. After each page is encoded, its canvas is released so memory use stays flat even for reports with several hundred pages. The progress bar shows which page is being drawn and, after the first page, an estimate of the total size. If you change your mind, press Cancel; the pages that are already finished stay available for download. For very large jobs at high DPI, a desktop browser is noticeably faster than a phone.
Tips for the best results
- Scanned PDFs already contain pictures of the pages. Choosing a DPI higher than the original scan does not add detail; it only makes the files bigger.
- Transparent pages exist in some PDFs exported from design programs. The white background option fills them so the images look like paper; untick it when saving PNG files if you want to keep the transparency.
- Forms and comments that have a visible appearance in the PDF are drawn as they look on screen, so filled-in fields appear in the images.
- Rotated pages are converted in the orientation you see when you open the PDF.
- Need a PDF again? Turn the images back into a document with Image to PDF, or remove pages you do not need with Delete PDF Pages.
Why use this PDF to JPG converter?
- Private by design. There is no upload step at all, which matters for contracts, bank statements, medical letters, IDs and anything else you would rather not hand to a stranger's server.
- Precise control. Page ranges, four resolution choices, a quality slider and a background option cover everyday needs without a cluttered screen.
- Batch friendly. Add several PDFs at once and download everything in one ZIP, with names that keep pages in order.
- Honest and free. No watermark, no daily limit, no account and no "premium" upsell. Once you have used it, it can also work offline, and you can install it as an app from your browser menu.
Privacy: your PDF stays on your device
The converter is a static web page. Your PDF is read by JavaScript in your own browser tab, rendered with pdf.js, the open-source PDF engine from Mozilla, and packed into a ZIP with the fflate library, both served from this site rather than a third-party server. No file, page image or password is sent over the network, nothing is stored after you close the tab, and you do not need an account. You can check this yourself: convert a first file, switch off your internet connection, then convert another one. It still works, because nothing needs to travel over the network.
Frequently asked questions
How do I convert a PDF to JPG for free?
Drop the PDF on the box at the top of this page, leave the Pages box empty or type a range, keep JPG and 150 DPI selected and press Convert. Each page becomes a separate JPG that you can download on its own or together with the others in a ZIP file. There is no sign-up, no watermark and no page limit.
Is my PDF uploaded to a server?
No. The pages are drawn by pdf.js inside your browser and the images are created on your device. Nothing is uploaded, stored or logged, and once you have converted a first file the tool can keep working without an internet connection.
What DPI should I use when converting a PDF to images?
150 DPI suits email, web forms and reading on screen, and turns an A4 page into 1,240 × 1,754 pixels. Choose 300 DPI for printing or text recognition and 72 DPI for small previews. Each doubling of the DPI creates about four times as many pixels, so files grow quickly.
Should I convert my PDF to JPG or PNG?
JPG gives much smaller files and is accepted almost everywhere, which makes it the right default for sharing and uploading. PNG is lossless, keeps small text and thin lines perfectly sharp and can keep transparent areas, but its files are usually larger, especially for scanned or photo-heavy pages.
Can I convert only some pages of a PDF?
Yes. Type a range in the Pages box: 2 converts only page 2, 1-3,5 converts pages 1, 2, 3 and 5, and 8- converts page 8 through the last page. Leave the box empty to convert every page. When you add several PDFs, the same range is applied to each file.
Can it convert a password-protected PDF?
Yes, if you know the password. When a PDF needs one, a password box appears and the password is used only inside your browser to open the file. If you do not have the password you can skip the file. The tool does not guess, crack or bypass passwords.
Why did a page come out at a lower DPI than I chose?
Browsers limit how large a single canvas can be: roughly 268 million pixels per image in most desktop browsers, and far less on iPhones and iPads. To stay safe everywhere, the tool also keeps each image within 16,384 pixels per side. When a very large page such as a poster or an engineering drawing would exceed that at your DPI, the tool lowers the resolution for that page only and tells you which DPI it used.
How do I make the images small enough for an upload form?
Start with JPG at 150 DPI and 85% quality. If the files are still too big, lower the quality to about 70%, then reduce the DPI to 100 or 120. Converting only the pages the form asks for also helps. For a strict limit such as 50 KB, run the image through the Compress Image to 50 KB tool afterwards.
Is there a page or file size limit?
There is no fixed limit. Pages are converted one at a time and memory is released after each page, so documents with hundreds of pages work, although they take longer at 300 DPI. Files over 50 MB show a warning because speed depends on your device's memory, and you can cancel a long job at any time and keep the pages already finished.
Will the images look exactly like the PDF?
Very close, because pdf.js is the same engine that displays PDFs in Firefox. Small differences can appear in files that rely on fonts that are not embedded, since a similar system font is used instead. Text in some Chinese, Japanese or Korean PDFs that rely on external character maps may be missing, and rare features such as 3D models or embedded video are not drawn.
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