PDF to PNG
Convert PDF pages to high-quality PNG images.
Drag & drop your PDF file here
or click to choose a file from your device
How to convert a PDF to PNG
- Drag your PDF into the upload panel, or click Choose PDF File. The page count appears once it has been read.
- Choose All Pages, or Select Pages and type the ones you want — for example 1-5, 8, 11-13.
- Pick PNG or JPG, then set the image quality and the resolution. Both affect sharpness, so read the two cards below if you are unsure.
- Choose RGB or grayscale, and decide whether you want one file per page or a single tall image.
- Click Convert. A single page downloads as one image; several pages arrive as a ZIP.
Want a more detailed walkthrough? Read the full step-by-step guide →
PDF to PNG online — free, fast and private
Convert PDF pages to PNG images. With Pixpoo you can convert PDF to PNG online for free, right in your browser — no sign-up, no watermark, and your files are processed locally rather than sent to Pixpoo’s servers.
About PDF to PNG
PDF to PNG draws each page of your document and saves the result as an image. PNG uses lossless compression, so what the renderer produced is what you get — lines, small type and screenshots stay sharp with no compression smudging around the edges, which is why it suits a page going into a slide, a document or a web page.
Every page is rendered fresh at the resolution you choose rather than lifted out of the file, so the output is a faithful picture of the page rather than a copy of whatever images the PDF happened to contain. The trade is the one every rasteriser makes: the result is pixels, so nothing in it can be selected, searched or edited as text afterwards.
Two settings decide how sharp and how large the result is, and they interact in a way worth understanding before you pick — the Image Quality card below explains exactly how.
When should you convert a PDF to PNG?
Rendering a page to an image is the right move whenever something needs to display a page rather than open it.
- Dropping a page into a slide deck, a report or a Word document, where an embedded image behaves predictably and a PDF does not.
- Putting a page on a web page or in an email, where a picture displays inline and an attachment has to be downloaded first.
- Sharing a certificate, invoice or diagram on a chat app or social platform that will not preview a PDF.
- Capturing a page exactly as it looks for a record, a design reference or a bug report.
- Getting a page into an image editor to crop, annotate or combine it with other artwork.
PDF to PNG options explained
The middle panel decides which pages are rendered and how. The two sharpness settings are the ones people most often get wrong, so they are explained in full below.
All Pages or Select Pages
All Pages converts the whole document. Select Pages reveals a box where you type the pages you want, mixing single numbers and ranges — 1-5, 8, 11-13. Pages come out in document order with duplicates removed, so a messy list still produces a clean set.
Use Select Pages whenever you only need a few pages from something long. A 200-page report converted in full at 300 DPI produces a very large ZIP and takes a while to build, when the two pages you actually wanted would have taken seconds.
Image Format
PNG uses lossless compression, so the rendered pixel values are preserved exactly and text and line art come out clean, at the cost of a larger file. JPG uses lossy compression, which discards detail to save space but leaves faint artefacts around high-contrast edges — most visible around small black text on white.
PNG for pages that are mostly text, tables, diagrams or screenshots, and for anything that will be printed or enlarged. JPG for photo-heavy pages, or when you need to attach many pages somewhere with a size limit. Which one is actually smaller depends on what is on the page. At the default High setting we measured a dense page of text coming out smaller in PNG form, because JPEG spends heavily on sharp letter edges; a photographic page went the other way by a wide margin. For text, PNG is usually both cleaner and lighter.
Image Quality
This setting does two different things depending on the format you picked. With PNG it changes the rendering resolution — High renders at the full DPI you chose, Medium at about 82 per cent of it and Low at about 66 per cent. With JPG the resolution stays at the full DPI and this setting controls the compression instead. So on PNG it multiplies with the DPI setting: 300 DPI at Low quality actually produces a 198 DPI image.
Leave it on High. It is the only value where the DPI card below means what it says, and on PNG the lower settings shrink the image rather than compressing it — which is usually not what someone reaching for "lower quality" expects. If you want a smaller PNG, pick a lower DPI instead, where the number tells you what you are getting.
Image Resolution (DPI)
How many pixels are rendered per inch of page. At 300 DPI an A4 page becomes about 2481 x 3508 pixels, at 200 DPI about 1654 x 2339, and at 150 DPI about 1241 x 1754. Higher DPI means a sharper, larger image and a slower conversion.
300 DPI when the image will be printed, enlarged or read closely — it is a common choice for print-quality output. 200 DPI is a good middle for a page going into a document or slide. 150 DPI is plenty for many on-screen uses and produces about one quarter as many pixels as 300 DPI, so the output can be substantially smaller. Remember that Image Quality above multiplies into this on PNG, so keep that on High if you want the DPI you picked.
Color Mode
RGB keeps the page in full colour. Grayscale converts every pixel to a shade of grey using standard luminance weighting, so colours become the brightness a black-and-white print would give them. The image is still saved as a colour file holding grey values rather than as a true single-channel grayscale image, so any size saving comes from the pixels compressing better — substantial on a colourful page, negligible on a page of black text.
Grayscale when you want a neutral look for printing on a mono printer, for scanning-style output, or when colour would distract from the content. It can also cut the file size markedly on a colourful or photographic page, though on a page of black text it saves almost nothing. Choose RGB whenever the colour carries meaning.
Create a separate file for each page
Ticked, every selected page becomes its own image, numbered by its page number, and several pages are bundled into a ZIP. Unticked, all the selected pages are drawn one below another into a single very tall image.
Leave it ticked. The stacked option is only useful for a small number of pages that belong together — a two-page spread you want as one picture, say. It has a hard ceiling, because it builds one enormous canvas: we measured a ceiling of 18 A4 pages at 300 DPI, rising to 28 and 37 as the resolution drops to 200 and 150, with failure at exactly one page beyond each. Past the limit the conversion stops with an error rather than producing a file, so lower the DPI or convert in batches.
Why use Pixpoo for PDF to PNG?
- PNG is lossless, so text edges and thin rules stay clean instead of picking up the halo that heavy compression leaves behind.
- Resolution goes up to 300 DPI, which is enough to print a converted page rather than only view it on screen.
- You can convert a whole document or just the pages you name, and multiple pages arrive as a ZIP with one numbered file per page.
- A JPG option is built in for when file size matters more than perfect edges.
- Everything runs in your browser — the document is not sent to Pixpoo’s servers, which matters for statements, contracts and ID scans.
PDF to PNG features
PDF to PNG limitations
The output is an image, so the text in it can no longer be selected, searched or edited — if you need the words back, PDF to Word or the OCR tool is the right route. Pages are always rendered onto a white background, so a PDF with transparent areas comes out opaque rather than keeping its transparency. The Image Quality setting reduces resolution rather than compressing when the format is PNG, which means it multiplies with the DPI you chose; leaving it on High is the only way the DPI number matches the result. Turning off "create a separate file for each page" builds one very tall canvas, and past 18 A4 pages at 300 DPI — 28 at 200 DPI, 37 at 150 — it exceeds what a browser canvas can hold and the conversion fails with an error instead of producing a file. Large documents at 300 DPI are also slow and memory-hungry, because every page is rendered at full size before it is compressed. A password-protected PDF cannot be opened directly — you will be offered the Unlock PDF tool first.
Common PDF to PNG questions
Do the PNGs keep transparency?
No. Each page is drawn onto a white background before it is saved, so the resulting PNG is fully opaque even if the PDF page had transparent areas. PNG supports transparency as a format, but this tool does not produce it.
What is the difference between Image Quality and DPI?
On PNG they do the same kind of thing and multiply together: DPI sets the rendering resolution and Image Quality scales it further, to about 82 per cent at Medium and 66 per cent at Low. That is why 300 DPI at Low quality gives a 198 DPI image. On JPG they are genuinely separate — resolution comes from DPI alone, and Image Quality sets the compression. The simple rule is to leave Image Quality on High and control sharpness with DPI.
Which DPI should I choose?
300 DPI for printing or for anything that will be enlarged or read closely. 200 DPI for a page going into a slide or document. 150 DPI for on-screen use, where it looks fine and cuts the pixel count to a quarter, though how much the file itself shrinks depends on what is on the page. An A4 page is 2481 x 3508 pixels at 300 DPI, 1654 x 2339 at 200 and 1241 x 1754 at 150.
Why did I get a ZIP instead of images?
Because more than one page was converted with "create a separate file for each page" ticked. Browsers can only download one file at a time, so the pages are bundled into a ZIP named after your document, with each file numbered by its page. Convert a single page and you get that image on its own.
Can I get all the pages as one long image?
Yes — untick "create a separate file for each page" and the pages are stacked vertically into a single image. It works well for a handful of pages, but it builds one very large canvas and browsers cap how big that can be. In testing the limit was 18 A4 pages at 300 DPI, 28 at 200 DPI and 37 at 150 DPI; beyond that the conversion fails rather than producing a file. Drop to a lower DPI, or convert in batches, for anything longer.
Should I use PNG or JPG?
PNG for pages that are mostly text, tables, line drawings or screenshots, and for anything being printed. JPG for photographic pages. It is worth knowing that JPG is not automatically the smaller file: at the default High quality, JPEG spends a lot of data on the sharp edges of text, so in our testing a text-heavy page at 300 DPI came out smaller as a PNG than as a JPG, while a photo-heavy page was around three times larger as a PNG. Judge by what is on the page rather than assuming JPG saves space.
Will grayscale give me a smaller file?
It depends entirely on the page. The image is still written as a colour file, so the saving comes from the pixels compressing better rather than from dropping a channel. On a page that is mostly black text on white there is almost nothing to gain — we measured under one per cent. On a colourful or photographic page the difference is large, around forty to fifty per cent in our testing. So grayscale can save real space on a colour-rich page, and almost none on a text page.
Is the PDF to PNG tool free?
Yes. PDF to PNG with Pixpoo is completely free — no sign-up, no watermark, no usage limits and no paid plan. It runs entirely in your browser, so there is nothing for us to meter.
Are my files uploaded to a server?
No. When you use PDF to PNG, your files are processed in your browser and are not sent to Pixpoo’s servers — Pixpoo does not upload or store them.
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