Convert PDF to JPG

To convert PDF to JPG, export the pages as images with Preview on Mac, Acrobat, a free tool like pdftoppm, or an online converter. PDF Viewer on this site does not export PDF pages to JPG; it displays, annotates and OCRs PDFs in your browser without uploading. Below are the ways that work for one page, a whole file and a batch.

PDF to JPG: what you are really doing

A PDF page is a set of drawing instructions; a JPG is a grid of pixels. Converting means rendering each page at a chosen resolution (DPI) and compressing it. Two consequences follow: text becomes unsearchable in the JPG, and the quality depends on the DPI you choose. 150 DPI is fine for screens, 300 DPI for printing.

If the PDF is already a scan, its pages are images already, and it is better to extract the original images than to re-render them. If you plan to edit or search the text later, keep the PDF and OCR it instead of turning it into pictures. For a flowchart, logo or screenshot that needs a transparent background or sharp edges, choose PDF to PNG, not JPG.

Which method for which case

Main method: Preview on Mac and pdftoppm everywhere else

Preview (macOS):

1. Open the PDF in Preview and select the page in the thumbnails sidebar.
2. Choose File, Export.
3. Set Format to JPEG, drag the Quality slider, and type a Resolution (150 or 300 pixels/inch).
4. Save. Repeat per page, or select all thumbnails and drag them into a folder for one-click PDFs per page.

pdftoppm (Windows, Mac, Linux; part of Poppler):

1. Install Poppler (Homebrew on Mac, a package manager on Linux, a Poppler build for Windows).
2. Run pdftoppm -jpeg -r 200 input.pdf page.
3. You get page-1.jpg, page-2.jpg and so on, one per page, at 200 DPI.

ImageMagick does the same with magick -density 200 input.pdf page-%d.jpg (it calls Ghostscript underneath). Online converters such as iLovePDF or Smallpdf return a ZIP of JPGs, but the PDF goes to their servers first.

What gets lost

• Text. JPG has no text layer; search, copy and screen readers stop working.
• Sharpness. JPG compression smears thin lines and small type; raise DPI and quality for documents with fine print.
• Transparency. JPG has no alpha channel, so transparent areas become white.
• Links, bookmarks, form fields and annotations are flattened into pixels or dropped.
• Color. CMYK and spot colors are converted to RGB for the JPG, so a brand red can shift slightly; export from the original design file if the color must match print.

To get back from images to a document, see JPG to PDF.

Scans: extract the original images instead of re-rendering

A PDF that came from a scanner or a phone camera already contains a JPG per page, usually at the scanner's resolution. Rendering such a page with pdftoppm decodes that JPG, draws it, and encodes a new JPG, which costs quality and often changes the pixel size. Pulling the embedded image out unchanged is better.

1. With Poppler installed, run pdfimages -j scan.pdf page. The -j flag writes JPEG streams as .jpg files without re-encoding; other formats come out as PPM or PBM.
2. Add -list first to see how many images each page holds and at what resolution, so you know what to expect.
3. Acrobat Pro does the same with Tools, Export PDF, Image, Export All Images.

If a page lists several small images instead of one, it was assembled from strips or has a logo on top; rendering with pdftoppm is simpler in that case. Learn how to tell these files apart in what a scanned PDF is.

Check the result

Open the images in any image viewer and zoom to 100 percent: small text should still be legible. If you assembled the JPGs into a new PDF, open it in the online PDF viewer and compare page order with the original using the thumbnails sidebar; rotate or delete stray pages there and download, all in the browser.

Frequently asked questions