A PDF is great for preserving layout, but plenty of tools and platforms want plain images. Here is how to convert PDF to JPG or PNG: which DPI to pick, which format suits which page, and how to do it free in your browser without uploading anything.
Why convert PDF pages to images?
PDF pages are stored as vector drawing instructions, not pixels — perfect for printing, but awkward in everyday situations:
- Slides and documents: PowerPoint, Google Slides, Word and Notion accept images but handle embedded PDFs poorly.
- Thumbnails and previews: a cover image of page one beats a generic PDF icon in link previews and file listings.
- Sharing: social networks, chat apps and CMSs accept JPG/PNG but often reject PDF uploads.
- OCR prep: most text-recognition pipelines take images as input, so scanned PDFs are rasterized first.
What DPI should you use for PDF to image?
DPI (dots per inch) sets how many pixels each inch of the page becomes. PDF pages have a fixed physical size — US Letter is 8.5 × 11 inches, A4 is 210 × 297 mm — so the output dimensions are simply inches × DPI:
| DPI | Best for | A4 page (210 × 297 mm) | US Letter (8.5 × 11 in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 72 | Web previews, thumbnails, quick shares | 595 × 842 px | 612 × 792 px |
| 150 | Documents, email attachments, OCR input | 1240 × 1754 px | 1275 × 1650 px |
| 300 | Print, archiving, zooming into fine detail | 2480 × 3508 px | 2550 × 3300 px |
Pixel count grows with the square of the DPI: a 300 DPI render has four times as many pixels as at 150 DPI, and roughly 17 times as many as at 72 DPI — which is why high-DPI files get big fast. Use 300 DPI when detail matters (it is also the recommended minimum for OCR); for on-screen reading, 150 DPI is usually indistinguishable from higher settings.
PNG vs JPG: which format for converted pages?
PNG is lossless — every pixel is preserved exactly, so text edges and line art stay razor sharp. JPG is lossy — it discards detail the eye barely notices, which suits photographs but leaves smudged, ringing artifacts around sharp black text.
| Page content | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Text documents, screenshots, diagrams, line art | PNG | Lossless: crisp edges, no compression artifacts around letters |
| Scanned photos, image-heavy or full-color pages | JPG | Dramatically smaller files at visually identical quality |
| Pages you will edit or re-save later | PNG | No quality loss accumulates across saves |
| Attachments with a strict size limit | JPG | Quality slider lets you trade detail for size |
Rule of thumb: if the page is mostly letters and flat colors, convert PDF to PNG; if it is mostly photos, convert to JPG. Note that JPG has no transparency, so any transparent areas in the PDF are rendered onto a white background in both formats.
How to convert PDF to JPG or PNG with the free tool
The PDF to Image & Image to PDF Converter renders pages locally with an embedded copy of Mozilla's PDF.js engine — your file never leaves your device:
- Open the PDF to Images tab and drop your PDF onto the drop zone (or click to browse).
- Choose a resolution: 72 DPI for screen, 150 DPI (the default) for sharing, or 300 DPI for print.
- Pick a format: PNG for lossless sharpness or JPEG for a smaller file — choosing JPEG reveals a quality slider.
- Once the previews render, download any single page, or click Download all pages as ZIP to grab every page.
No sign-up, no watermark, no page limit — works on phone and desktop.
The reverse: combine JPG/PNG images into one PDF
The same tool also runs the other direction — handy for receipts, scans, homework or portfolios:
- Open the Images to PDF tab and drop in JPG, PNG, WebP, GIF or SVG files — as many as you like, one PDF page each.
- Reorder the list with the arrow buttons; the list order becomes the page order.
- Pick a page size: match each image's own dimensions, or fit every image onto A4 or Letter pages with a margin. Adjust the JPEG quality slider if you want a smaller file.
- Click Create PDF and save the result.
JPG files are embedded byte-for-byte with no re-compression, so you lose nothing; the other formats are flattened onto a white background at the JPEG quality you selected.
Quality and file-size tradeoffs
Every choice above is a trade between fidelity and weight:
- DPI dominates size. Because pixels scale with the square of DPI, dropping from 300 to 150 DPI cuts the pixel count by 75 percent while remaining perfectly readable on screen.
- JPEG quality 85–95 is the sweet spot. Below about 80, artifacts around text become obvious; above 95, files grow fast with little visible gain.
- The ZIP will not shrink anything. PNG and JPEG are already compressed, so the archive simply bundles them — convenient, but not smaller than its parts.
- Match the output to the destination. A website thumbnail needs 72 DPI JPG; a page headed for a printer or an OCR engine wants 300 DPI PNG. Render one high-quality master and downscale copies from it rather than re-converting the PDF repeatedly.
Try it now: drop a PDF into the PDF to Image & Image to PDF Converter, flip between 72 and 300 DPI on the same page, and compare the downloads side by side.