How to Convert a PDF to Images

By Michael Peters · Published April 16, 2026 · Last updated April 16, 2026 · 7 min read

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Quick summary

You can also convert a PDF to images online for free using Mapsoft's PDF Hub — no installation required.

When to convert a PDF to images

• Embedding in web pages. A PDF can't be inlined as an <img>. Converting the first page to PNG produces a portable preview that works everywhere.
• Thumbnails. Document management systems, file browsers, and search results use per-page thumbnails. Generating them in bulk is a common pipeline.
• Slide decks. Exporting PDF pages as images lets you drop them into PowerPoint, Keynote, or Google Slides without licencing Acrobat Pro.
• OCR pre-processing. Some OCR pipelines run on images rather than PDFs. Converting pages to high-resolution TIFFs is a typical first step.
• Printing by non-PDF readers. Legacy devices that don't speak PDF can still print an image.
• Archival. For certain compliance regimes, a rasterised image of every page is preferred over the original PDF because it can't be edited.

Choosing the right format

• PNG is lossless, supports transparency, and is the best choice for line art, diagrams, and text-heavy pages. File sizes are larger than JPEG.
• JPEG is lossy but excellent for photographic pages. File sizes are small. Avoid JPEG for line art — you'll see compression artefacts around text.
• TIFF is the professional archival format. Lossless, supports multiple pages per file, and accommodates high bit-depth colour. Large file sizes.
• WebP is a modern web-friendly format that combines good compression with reasonable quality. Not all tools support WebP output; modern browsers do.

For a deeper comparison of image formats relevant to PDF workflows, see our image formats post.

Resolution matters

The single biggest quality knob when converting PDF to image is the output resolution (DPI or pixel dimensions). Too low and text looks pixelated; too high and file sizes balloon.

• Web embedding and thumbnails: 72–96 DPI is fine for small previews; 150 DPI for retina/full-size web use.
• Slides and presentations: 150 DPI matches typical projection resolution.
• OCR pre-processing: 300 DPI is the standard. Some OCR engines prefer 400–600 DPI for small text.
• Print: 300 DPI minimum; 600 DPI for fine line art.
• Archival: 300 DPI minimum, 600 DPI preferred for long-term retention.

Methods

Method 1 — Adobe Acrobat

In Acrobat Pro, choose File → Export To → Image → PNG (or JPEG, TIFF). Each page becomes its own image file with a numbered filename. Settings: colour space, resolution, compression level. For a single page only, use Tools → Export PDF and pick the page range.

Method 2 — Online, free

Mapsoft's PDF to Images tool exports all pages or a selected range as PNG or JPEG. You download a zip containing one file per page. Good for ad-hoc conversions.

Method 3 — Command line (pdftoppm, Ghostscript)

For scripting, pdftoppm (part of poppler-utils) is the simplest tool:

• pdftoppm -r 300 -png input.pdf page produces page-1.png, page-2.png, etc. at 300 DPI.
• pdftoppm -r 150 -jpeg -jpegopt quality=85 input.pdf thumb produces web-friendly JPEGs.
• gs -sDEVICE=tiffg4 -r600 -o page-%d.tif input.pdf uses Ghostscript to produce 600-DPI monochrome TIFFs for OCR.

Method 4 — macOS Preview

Preview can export a PDF page by page: open the PDF, select a page in the sidebar, File → Export, pick PNG or JPEG, choose the resolution. Free and built-in.

Frequently Asked Questions

What resolution should I use for PDF-to-image?

72–96 DPI for small web thumbnails, 150 DPI for presentations and retina web, 300 DPI for OCR and print, 600 DPI for archival and fine line art. Pick based on how the image will be used — higher isn't always better.

PNG or JPEG?

PNG for text, diagrams, and line art (lossless, no compression artefacts). JPEG for photographic content (small files, minor quality loss). TIFF for archival or OCR pre-processing.

How do I convert just one page to an image?

In Acrobat, File → Export To → Image and set the page range to a single page. Online tools typically offer a page selector. At the command line: pdftoppm -f N -l N input.pdf output (where N is the page number).

Will converting to images make the file searchable?

No — the opposite. Images lose the text layer. If you need searchable output, keep the PDF and run OCR on it, or convert to images then run OCR on the images and build a new searchable PDF.