About PDF to JPG
This tool saves PDF pages as pictures. Each page you select is drawn by pdf.js, the open-source PDF engine from Mozilla, onto a canvas inside your browser tab and then encoded as a JPG. A 12-page brochure called brochure.pdf becomes brochure-p1.jpg through brochure-p12.jpg, and when more than one page is converted the images arrive together in a single ZIP.
JPG is the image format almost everything accepts: upload forms, chat apps, slide editors, photo galleries and email on any phone or computer. That is why “save PDF as image” usually means JPG. The trade-off is that JPG compression discards a little detail, which you won’t notice on photos but which can leave faint smudges around small black lettering. You get two quality settings: High (quality 92, the default) and Medium (quality 80), which produces smaller files with slightly softer edges.
Once a page is a JPG it is only a picture. Its words can no longer be selected, searched or copied, and links on the page stop being clickable. Keep the original PDF if you might need any of that later.
How to use PDF to JPG
- Add your PDFDrop a PDF onto the tool or click to browse your files. A thumbnail of every page appears once the document has been read.
- Choose pages and resolutionAll pages start out selected. Click thumbnails to narrow the selection, or type ranges such as 1-3, 5. Then pick 72, 150 or 300 DPI and either High or Medium quality.
- Convert and save the JPGsStart the conversion. A single page downloads as one JPG; two or more pages download together as a ZIP, with each image named after the PDF plus its page number.
When people use it
Post a page in a chat or on social media
Messaging apps and social networks show a JPG right in the conversation, not as an attachment. Convert the one page that matters, such as an event flyer or a seating chart, at 150 DPI and post it directly.
Upload to a form that refuses PDFs
Some portals for ID documents, receipts or rental applications only take images. Converting the scanned page to JPG at 150 DPI usually gives a file that is easy to read yet small enough for their size limit.
Place a slide or chart in another document
A chart from a PDF report can be inserted into a slide deck or a word processor as an ordinary picture. Use 300 DPI if the slide will be projected on a large screen or printed.
Which DPI should you pick?
DPI (dots per inch) decides how many pixels each inch of the PDF page turns into. Doubling the DPI doubles both the width and the height, so the image holds four times as many pixels and the file grows accordingly. For a US Letter page (8.5 × 11 inches) the three settings give:
| Setting | Letter page in pixels | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| 72 DPI | 612 × 792 | Quick previews, thumbnails, a glance at a page on a phone |
| 150 DPI (default) | 1275 × 1650 | Sharing, uploading, reading on a screen, most everyday jobs |
| 300 DPI | 2550 × 3300 | Printing, zooming into fine print, feeding an OCR program |
If you’re unsure, stay on 150. Choose 72 only when a small file matters more than legibility, because footnotes and tiny labels can blur at that size. Choose 300 when the image will be printed or when someone needs to zoom in on small details.
File size and image quality
How big each JPG ends up depends on three things: the resolution, the quality setting and what is on the page. Plain text on a white background compresses well, while a full-bleed photograph or a textured background makes a much bigger JPG at the same settings. If a batch of images comes out too heavy, lower one setting at a time: switch to Medium quality first, then drop to 72 DPI for pages that only need to be recognizable.
Pages are drawn on a white background, so any transparent areas in the PDF come out white, which suits JPG since the format can’t store transparency anyway. Colors are converted to the RGB space that screens use. Document properties such as the title and author stay in the PDF and aren’t written into the images.
Very large pages, like posters or engineering drawings, are scaled down automatically so the image stays within the browser’s canvas limit of roughly 8,000 pixels per side. A 24 × 36 inch poster at 300 DPI would be 10,800 pixels tall, so it is reduced to fit; at 150 DPI the same poster converts at full size.
When a JPG isn’t the right output
- Diagrams, screenshots and small text: PDF to PNG keeps hard edges perfectly crisp because PNG compression loses nothing.
- Images for a website: PDF to WebP usually makes lighter files that look the same.
- A PDF that is too big to email: turning it into JPGs is the wrong fix. Compress PDF shrinks the document and keeps its text selectable.
- Some pages as a PDF, not as pictures: Extract PDF Pages and Split PDF keep them as real PDF pages.
- Password-protected files: open them with Unlock PDF first, which requires the password.
Private by design
The PDF is read and rendered inside your browser tab, and the JPGs are written straight to your downloads folder; the file is never uploaded. After the page has loaded, conversion even works offline. You can check this yourself with your browser’s developer tools.